Last season, Barcelona faced the Seville-based club in their own Nou Camp stadium when they were also top of the table but, just like this year, a few below-par results had lead some pundits to believe that Barca were wilting.

Barca, however, thrashed Betis 5-1 and never looked back.

Betis coach Luis Fernandez is confident that his side will not be in for a similar thrashing on Sunday after going eight games without a win.

"You would be wrong if you think that Betis are going to let Barcelona walk all over us again," Fernandez said bullishly.

"We are not going to let that happen again. We are going to work hard and going there to pull off something.

"They are the leaders and with good players and we know that they are unbeaten in the league in the Nou Camp this season but we are going there intending to surprise them. I think we can give then a bit of a shock," added Fernandez.

Both Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi were among the scorers last season and could be among Fernandez's principal headaches on Sunday.

Ronaldinho has been a nightmare for Fernandez in the past as well.

Fernandez was the coach at French club Paris St Germain when the Brazilian two-time World Player of the Year was there and he has admitted that he used to lie awake at night wondering which nightclubs Ronaldinho was frequenting.

Messi was left out Barcelona for the their Spanish club semifinal at Getafe on Thursday.

In addition to giving the Argentine whizz-kid a well earned rest, Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard feared that Messi could have been a target for some brutish tackling by the Madrid-based side following his rough treatment by Real Sociedad in Barca's 2-0 win last Sunday.

Real Madrid moved into second place and are two points adrift of their bitter rivals Barca after a 3-2 win over fellow championship challengers Sevilla last Sunday.

If they are to maintain the pressure then Real will need a good result against Espanyol on Saturday.

The fixture has come at just the right time as the Barcelona-based club have their eyes on Wednesday's all-Spanish UEFA Cup final rather than La Liga.

Espanyol have several of their key players carrying twinges and coach Ernesto Valverde may take the risk of sending out a second-string side to face Real.

Striker Walter Pandiani has a slightly sprained left ankle, Albert Riera has a bruised shoulder while Ivan De La Pena has only just started training again after being out of action for two weeks following a recent calf injury.

"We want to go out there and score a lot of goals (against Espanyol). But let's not forget that they are also playing at a very good level and deserve respect," said Real defender Sergio Ramos on Thursday.

Former England captain David Beckham and Brazilian striker Robinho will miss Saturday's games through suspension.

Sevilla lost out last Sunday and slipped back to third but will be hoping to get back on track against near neighbours Recreativo Huelva on Saturday.

Reserve striker Ernesto Chevanton is suspended which may mean that coach Juande Ramos will have to use Fredi Kanoute, despite his preference to save Malian for the UEFA Cup final becuase of his chronic groin problem.

Another problem for Ramos is that neither the Spanish international defender Javi Navarro nor reserve goalkeeper David Cobeno, who he is hoping to use against Huelva rather than his first choice keeper Andres Palop, trained on Thursday due to colds.

Fixtures
(Kick-off times in GMT)
Saturday
Real Madrid v Espanyol (1800), Sevilla v Recreativo Huelva (2100)
Sunday
Athletic Bilbao v Deportivo La Coruna (1500), Celta Vigo v Levante (1500), Getafe v Atletico Madrid (1500), Gimnastic Tarragona v Real Sociedad (1500) Osasuna v Villarreal (1500), Racing Santander v Real Mallorca (1500), Barcelona v Real Betis (1700), Valencia v Real Zaragoza (1900)