Madrid - The fourth round of the Spanish Liga programme will be played between Tuesday and Thursday, and includes difficult away matches for Real Madrid and Barcelona. The twin giants have both won all three of their opening games - the same as revelation team Athletic Bilbao - but will now have to work harder to keep intact their 100 per cent records.
The midweek matches kick off on Tuesday with sixth-placed Sevilla at home to Mallorca, who are joint fourth with Valencia.
Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez will have to decide who to drop between Alvaro Negredo and Frederic Kanoute - both scored against Osasuna on Saturday - in order to make room for the in-form Luis Fabiano.
"That is the kind of problem that any coach would enjoy," said Jimenez on Sunday.
Later on Tuesday, Barca face a Racing side who are ninth. As usual, coach Josep Guardiola has arranged for Lionel Messi and company to fly out on the very morning of the match, in order to give his players more time to rest at home with their families.
Guardiola is likely to give Thierry Henry a rest, putting little Andres Iniesta in his place down the left wing.
Iniesta has not started a game for four months, since tearing a thigh muscle.
The big game on Wednesday sees Real away to Villarreal, where they have lost twice in the last three seasons.
Real are top of the table on goal difference, as a result of Sunday's 5-0 slaughter of bottom team Xerez, in which Cristiano Ronaldo scored two more goals.
Ronaldo is joint top of the scorers' chart with David Villa of Valencia, both on four goals.
Real's Ruud Van Nistelrooy is likely to be out of action for a couple of weeks. The Dutch veteran, who was out for 10 months after a knee ligament operation, came off the bench and scored the fifth goal against Xerez - but pulled a muscle in his left calf in the process.
Real will again be without suspended defender Pepe.
Villarreal have just two points, their worst start to a season since 1998. However, midfielder Santi Cazorla said on Sunday: "I am sure that we will give Madrid a really hard game."
Also on Wednesday, high-flying Bilbao will be away to Tenerife, while Valencia face Getafe and troubled Atletico Madrid are at home to Almeria.
Atletico have just one point to their name. Failure to convincingly beat Almeria will bring the wrath of the Estadio Calderon don on embattled coach Abel Resino.
Wednesday's other games are as follows: Espanyol-Malaga, Xerez-Deportivo Coruna and Valladolid-Osasuna.
On Thurday Sporting Gijon - who battled out a spirited 2-2 draw in Valencia on Sunday - are at home to Zaragoza.
