La Liga Table 2017: Latest Standings Following Friday's Week 22 Results

Real Sociedad continued their bid to finish the 2016-17 La Liga season inside the top four with another win on Friday, as the Basques battled to a 2-1 triumph at Espanyol.

The in-form Catalans gave La Real quite the contest, but goals from Carlos Vela and Asier Illarramendi secured the win. Hernan Perez scored a wonderful goal for the hosts.

Here's a look at the latest standings following Friday's result:

Pos	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Real Madrid	19	14	4	1	51	17	+34	46
2	Barcelona	21	13	6	2	55	18	+37	45
3	Sevilla	21	13	4	4	43	28	+15	43
4	Real Sociedad	22	13	2	7	36	31	+5	41
5	Atletico Madrid	21	11	6	4	36	16	+20	39
6	Villarreal	21	9	8	4	28	14	+14	35
7	Athletic Club	21	9	5	7	26	25	+1	32
8	Espanyol	22	8	8	6	30	29	+1	32
9	Eibar	21	9	5	7	32	29	+3	32
10	Celta Vigo	20	9	3	8	31	33	-2	30
11	Las Palmas	21	7	7	7	31	32	-1	28
12	Alaves	21	6	9	6	21	22	-1	27
13	Real Betis	20	6	5	9	21	31	-10	23
14	Malaga	21	5	7	9	28	35	-7	22
15	Valencia	20	5	4	11	29	40	-11	19
16	Deportivo La Coruna	20	4	7	9	25	32	-7	19
17	Leganes	21	4	6	11	15	35	-20	18
18	Sporting Gijon	21	3	4	14	22	43	-21	13
19	Granada	21	2	7	12	17	44	-27	13
20	Osasuna	21	1	7	13	23	46	-23	10

Friday's outing started in disappointing fashion for La Real, who lost star forward Willian Jose to injury just a few minutes into the contest. Sports writer Simon Harrison feared it could have a major impact on the rest of their campaign:

The Basques played well during the opening stages, however, and Vela gave the visitors the lead after 26 minutes with a nice finish.

But once La Real had the lead, the visitors sat back and invited trouble. With 10 minutes left to play in the half, Perez pulled the hosts level with a fantastic goal. He was sent through with a fine pass and wrong-footed two defenders before blasting home from close range, to the delight of BeIN Sports USA's Ryan Catanese:

La Real took control of the ball to start the second half, and Vela went close to restoring the lead after 54 minutes.

It was team-mate Illarramendi who took care of the scoring, however, producing a fine strike that had his team's official Twitter account buzzing:

Espanyol pushed for a late equaliser, but La Real displayed great maturity in seeing out the match. The result sees the Basques leap over Atletico Madrid in the standings, but the Rojiblancos still have a match in hand.

Leaders Real Madrid face a trip to lowly Osasuna on Saturday and are expected to cruise to yet another win. The hosts have won just a single match all season long and field the league's worst-ranked defence.

Manager Zinedine Zidane still expects a difficult trip, however:

Barcelona's trip should be slightly more difficult, as the Catalans face an in-form Alaves side. The Basques sit well ahead of the relegation zone and qualified for the final of the Copa del Rey, turning the 2016-17 campaign into something of a Cinderella run.

Atletico Madrid host Celta Vigo, who have won three of their last four matches in La Liga.