The Villarreal Players Real Madrid Need to Watch out for

Few observers of Spanish football would have been surprised to see Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid win all of their opening three games, but many would have raised eyebrows at the start Villarreal have had.

The Yellow Submarines are the only team alongside last season's top three to have taken maximum points so far this term, taking care of Almeria, Valladolid and Osasuna. And they won each game by playing attacking, exciting football—they've created 29 chances and netted eight goals already.

Unlike most teams outside the top two in La Liga, Villarreal are not beset by financial problems and were able to hold onto the bulk of the squad that returned the club to the top flight last season, as well as strengthening the side by doing that most unheard-of thing for most La Liga clubs of late: spending money.

€16 million was splashed this summer to bring in Giovani dos Santos and Tomas Pina from Mallorca, French striker Jeremy Perbet from Mons, Gabriel Paulista from Vitoria and Aleksandar Pantic from Red Star Belgrade, plus goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo, who joined on loan from Atletico Madrid.

Real Madrid will therefore have to produce a big performance against Marcelino Garcia Toral's side on Saturday if they are to leave El Madrigal with all three points.

Despite winning every game so far, Madrid are yet to produce a truly convincing performance and have a few injury concerns for the trip too, with Marcelo ruled out of the game with injury and doubts remaining about the fitness of Isco and Fabio Coentrao.

The concern over Isco puts the club in a most inconvenient situation, less than two weeks after Mesut Ozil was sold to Arsenal.

Although Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to play, it was reported that he was not feeling 100 percent fit last week.

Here is a rundown of the Villarreal players Madrid need to keep an eye on if they are to return to the Spanish capital unscathed:

Bruno

The 29-year-old midfielder has been at the club since he joined the academy as a teenager and has been the backbone of the team since fully establishing himself in Manuel Pellegrini's side in the 2007-08 season.

He has two Champions League campaigns under his belt and made two appearances for Spain. His strengths are breaking down the opposition attacks and keeping the play ticking—he has notched up a pass accuracy average of 82 percent this season and won 79 percent of on-field duels.

His role in the team has become even more important now that Marcos Senna has left the club, and Sami Khedira and Luka Modric face a tough battle in outmuscling him on Saturday.

Jonathan Pereira

The Galician forward's career appeared to be taking a step backward when he swapped top-flight Real Betis to join Villarreal in the Segunda Division midway through last season, but the move was ultimately a success, as he scored seven goals in 20 appearances (nine of which were from the bench), including the goal that sent the club back up to the Primera Division.

He has begun the new season in sparkling form—turning the game with Almeria on its head by coming off the bench to set up his side's first goal and then slotting in the winner, and giving the usually tough Osasuna defence a nightmare in the last game, providing two assists.

He is just as comfortable playing through the middle as causing havoc from the right-hand side, which is bad news for Madrid, because if Coentrao does not recover in time, Pereira may be up against Nacho or Alvaro Arbeloa, who will both be playing out of position.

Giovani dos Santos

Put simply, if it hadn't been for the Mexican forward, Mallorca would have been relegated much, much earlier than the final day of last season. The former Barcelona and Tottenham man was one of the Islanders' few creative sparks last season but has joined a Villarreal side that matches his passion for making things happen in attack.

He linked up superbly with fellow Mexican Javier Aquino to score in his debut for Villarreal against Almeria and then provided Pereira with the match winner.

Although it could be argued he has underachieved considering what was expected of him when he came out of La Masia, Dos Santos still has the ability to make something out of nothing due to his speed and technical ability, which allows him to beat defenders with ease.

Real Betis' Cedrick Mabwati showed that Madrid's defence does not like being tested with pace, and if Dos Santos is ambitious enough, he can cause them damage.

Cani

Although in his eighth season with the club and now 32, Cani is as indispensable as ever, playing every minute of the campaign so far. He also scored one of the goals of the week when he grabbed the winner against Valladolid, driving through midfield before producing the most sublime of finishes to send the ball into the top corner.

Although that goal was worth savouring, Cani is not usually a goal threat—his speciality is creating chances, thanks to his excellent passing range.  His average pass stretches 19 metres, and he has a 71 percent pass accuracy this season. Although he is yet to record an assist, he has created one sixth of the team's chances this season.

Javier Aquino

Like Pereira, he joined in January and helped galvanise the team, at the time dithering about in mid-table, inspiring them to mount their ultimately successful push for automatic promotion.

A Mexico international and member of the team that won Gold at the London 2012 Olympics, Aquino has all the qualities a winger needs: explosive pace, skill and an eye for the killer pass.

He adds to the team's already dangerous threat from the wings but can come inside to play vertical balls too, such as the pass that led to Giovani gifting Ikechukwu Uche the third goal against Osasuna.