La Liga: Sunday Matches Previews: September 19, 2010

Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona

Atletico will be giving Aguero a late chance to prove his fitness to play the champions shortly before the match.

Nobody wants to play host to Barcelona, as they are arguably the best team in the world. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the home side is going to be completely helpless. After all, if Hercules can beat Barca, then Atletico have every chance of doing the same.

In practice, however, it would be prudent for the home side to play for a draw, something which the can realistically hope to achieve. Their coach has actually said that to have a chance they will need to play perfectly, which is not an easy feat.

Well, Barcelona have had an interesting week, losing to newly promoted Hercules and thrashing Panathinaikos 5-1, which does solidify the obvious fact that their domestic flop was simply a blip. To stay on track in a league where every single point is crucial, they will have to win this match. Even falling one point behind Real Madrid now could cause them to have serious difficulties down the line.

Their humbling last week may have taught the giants a lesson about complacency.

Malaga vs Sevilla

Malaga will be looking to make things even worse for their neighbours Sevilla, who aren’t having the best of times at the moment.

Malaga seem to be good out of the starting gates, they just seem to fizzle out towards the end of the match. They have scored five times in the first 34 minutes of their games since the start of the season, which is more than anybody else in the league. The problem is that despite this fact, they aren’t looking all too secure in any leads they establish.

If they can tighten-up at the back, a downtrodden Sevilla are perfectly beatable.

Well, this has been the month from hell for Sevilla: They bombed out of the Spanish Super Cup, they bombed out of the Champions League qualifiers, and other than a half-decent win on opening day, there really hasn’t been anything that could be construed as a silver lining.

In picking up a win here, on the other hand, they could actually be looking at turning around their dismal start to the season.

There doesn’t really seem to be any reason for their poor performances. After all, it isn’t exactly as if their team is filled with low quality players. They need to play a much better game than they have been if they are going to beat Malaga at home.

Hercules vs Valencia

Well, every single Hercules fan is going to have a smile on their face from ear to ear. After beating Barcelona, they really have stamped an impression on La Liga.

This is actually a derby, and beating Valencia would not only make everybody sit up and take note of Hercules, but get one over on their local rivals. This is going to be a fiercely competitive match, that is for sure. What actually happens, on the other hand, is going to be a little bit harder to figure out, although the smart money would be on Valencia winning with a reasonable margin.

Valencia’s coach has stated that this match will be viewed as important, and he will not be making the mistake of underestimating the side and intends to remain cautious going into that match.

Valencia have had a good start to the season: They have won both of their opening games and sit at joint top of the table with Atletico Madrid. If they continue to play the same way that they have been, and Hercules don’t pull something extra special out of the bag, then they should certainly win.

But derbies have a long history of being very unpredictable.

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