MADRID, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- With barely time to catch breath, Spanish Liga Santander shifts from Matchday 5 to Matchday 6 this weekend with both league leaders FC Barcelona and Real Madrid facing accessible rivals away from home, while the second game in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium sees Atletico Madrid entertain second place Sevilla.
Diego Costa is likely to be in the stands of the Wanda when Atletico, who moved into third place in midweek, take on second place Sevilla in what promises to be a fascinating game.
Atletico are the same tough rivals as ever and although Sevilla sometimes need time to hit top gear, Eduardo Berizzo's side are quickly taking onboard their new coach's message and playing flowing attacking football.
There is crisis at Real Madrid after Wednesday's shock home defeat to Betis left them seven points behind Barcelona, but their crisis is nothing compared to Saturday's hosts Alaves who have kicked off the season with five defeats and no goals in their opening five matches.
Theo Hernandez will miss out on a return to the club he played for last season with a shoulder injury, while Marcelo, Benzema and Kovacic are also sidelined though injury and young striker Borja Mayoral may get another start.
The alarm bells are already ringing at the Bernabeu, if Madrid fail to win in Vitoria they will reach and early season crescendo.
In contrast everything is going smoothly for Barcelona, who have won five games out of five in the league and have Leo Messi scoring goals almost at will. The Argentinean has nine goals in five league matches and will expect to add to that in a Catalan derby away to newly promoted Girona.
There is great expectation in the Montilivi Stadium, but after three games in which they have failed to score, Girona will need to do something special to stop Barca maintaining their 100 percent record at the start of the campaign.
Malaga are another side who have lost all five games this season and failure to defeat Athletic Club Bilbao ,who have had 24 hours less to prepare for Saturday's game will almost certainly cost Michel Gonzalez his job.
Sunday's standout game sees Real Sociedad entertain an improving Valencia with the Basque team needing to bounce back after consecutive defeats have taken the edge of their winning start to the season.
Valencia meanwhile will look to build on Tuesday's 5-0 thrashing of Malaga in which Simone Zaza scored a hat-trick.
Espanyol appear to be improving after their slow start to the campaign and take on Deportivo la Coruna, who defeated Alaves on Wednesday night, while Celta Vigo coach Juan Carlos Unzue needs his side to produce the goods in Eibar's always difficult Ipurua Stadium, where the home side have had 48 extra hours rest to lick their wounds following Tuesday's defeat in the Camp Nou.
Getafe will test Villarreal's erratic start to the season while the round of games ends on Monday as a euphoric Betis entertain fifth placed Levante, who have so far been this season's surprise package.
