MADRID, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona will look to overcome their injury worries to open up an 11-point lead over Real Madrid in the Primera Liga on Saturday night.
With Real Madrid not playing until Sunday, Barca's home game against an out of form Granada is a real chance for Tito Vilanova's side to make it five wins out of five in their start to the league campaign.
Barca are without central defensive duo Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique through injury and will call either Alex Song or Marc Bartra into the side to partner Javier Mascherano in defense, while Andres Iniesta is still struggling for fitness after suffering a slight muscle injury and Jordi Alba should play after a bad dose of flu.
Granada travel to Barcelona without a win all season and with just two points from four matches.
Real Madrid meanwhile drive across town to play Rayo Vallecano late on Sunday night. Jose Mourinho's side have been strongly criticized by their coach in the start to the season, but showed personality to bounce back to defeat Manchester City 3-2 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Vallecas is always a tough ground for Madrid to visit and it will be interesting to see if that new spirit in the Madrid side remains against a Rayo team that showed no lack of fight when clawing their way back from 4-0 down to lose narrowly 4-3 against Atletico last weekend.
The round of matches kicks off with three games on Saturday as Osasuna, who have only one point make the short trip to play Zaragoza.
Zaragoza have only one win themselves and there is always plenty of bite in clashes between these two outfits, especially now they are keen to put a poor start to the season in the past.
Celta performed well in losing to Valencia last weekend and will look to continue their adaptation to the top flight at home to a solid Getafe, who need to start producing good form away from home.
Meanwhile Betis can take a big step towards the top of the table if they can beat Espanyol. Espanyol are another winless side this season, having thrown away two 2-0 leads in their last two matches. Mauricio Pochettino's side have to sort out problems in defense quickly if this is not going to turn into a long and painful season.
Another side with defensive problems are Athletic Club Bilbao, who entertain Malaga with the worst defensive record in the Primera Liga.
Malaga in contrast, travel to Bilbao after a great start to the campaign which has seen them take 10 points from four matches and defeat Zenit St Petersburg 3-0 in the Champions League in midweek.
Sunday kicks off with what looks like a tight match between an unbeaten Mallorca and Valencia, who have yet to hit second gear with coach Manuel Pellegrino. Valencia were a tad lucky to beat Celta 2-1 last weekend and lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Pellegrino's side have had a tough start to the campaign and are without injured midfielders, David Albelda and Ever Banega, but that is no excuse for the ever-demanding Valencia fans.
The weekend also sees Levante at home to a Real Sociedad side that habitually drops off away from home, while Atletico Madrid's main rival against Valladolid is likely to be tiredness after their Thursday night Europa League match in Israel.
Striker Radomal Falcao was rested in that game, however, and should be at his goalscoring best against a Valladolid side that has run out of steam after winning the first two games of the campaign.
The round of matches ends on Monday as an unbeaten Deportivo la Coruna entertain Sevilla.
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