La Liga: Rest Of Season Predictions

The Title Race.....All Over?

Apparently so. FC Barcelona are stubbornly sitting in pole position, 12 points ahead of fifth placed Real Madrid and 10 points ahead of second placed Sevilla FC. Their only defeat in the league was way back in Week 1 when they were defeated 1-0 by Numancia.

Since then under the guidance of new coach and former player Josep Guardiola, the Catalans have risen to the top and have been playing the best and most entertaining football in Europe. Moreover, 41 points from 16 matches denote their best ever start to a league season.

On Week 16, they went 1-0 behind in the match against Villarreal but their Johan Cruyff style of playing attacking football even with only defenders on the pitch (okay, that was an exaggeration but you get the idea anyway, don’t you?) drove them to convincingly win the match 2-1.

That win maintained their record of winning against the main title contenders, namely Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal, scoring 17 goals in the process in these five 'big' games. That has led many, if not all, football experts to believe that Barcelona are unbeatable this season, at least in La Liga.

Mathematically, the league is not over yet and it is likely that Barca shall go through an ‘off period’ sometime in the remainder of the season but perhaps it would be best to say that it is now all for Barcelona to lose the title.

Real Madrid would have to create history if they are to win the league this season as no team in Liga history has overcome a 12-point deficit to emerge triumphant. Under new coach Juande Ramos, things can only improve for the Blancos but they are still struggling with injuries.

Valencia have a few doubts on their financial situation, which thanks to former president Juan Soler is indeed very unhealthy. Although they do have the players, they have not been very confident in big matches and somehow you feel that getting a top four finish at the end of the season would be coach Unai Emery's top priority this season, given what occurred in 2007-2008.

Sevilla and Villarreal too must have fancied their chances of winning the league at the start of the season and although neither would be too eager to count themselves out of the reckoning, given the fact that there is only a two point gap between second and sixth spots, it would be a wise idea to see that they sustain Champions League positions first.

So are Barcelona going to win the league this season? Yes, but would be a roll for them in the remainder of the Liga season? Hm....remember, there are still 22 rounds of matches to be played.

The Top Four

Any thoughts of Real Madrid not finishing in a UEFA Champions League spot at the end of the season should be swept away with the broom that your maid uses to sweep the floor. Barcelona and Real Madrid are certainly going to finish in the top four but who would be the remaining two? Which two clubs among Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Sevilla would be the 'unfortunate' ones?

Villarreal and Sevilla should be the slight favourites. The Yellow Submarine might just not be ‘championship material’ yet but they are certainly a very strong side and perhaps more importantly a very strong unit with responsibilities being spread across the entire squad.

Sevilla, like Villarreal, are not really a 'giant’ of Spanish football but they have a very strong, attractive and attacking team, that in spite of losing Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita to FC Barcelona in the summer.

And so far, along with Barcelona, Sevilla have been the most impressive in the big matches. The Andalucians defeated Atletico, Real Madrid and Villarreal, gained a point against Valencia and suffered a loss to Barcelona. Valencia and Atletico Madrid are not that far behind.

While Los Che have Spain's arguably best striker David Villa as the key to unlocking the door that leads to the Champions League, Atleti's Messiah is the 20-year old Sergio Aguero, last season's third highest goalscorer in La Liga who has netted the ball nine times in the league so far this season. Atletico have an appalling defence and also suffer from inconsistency but they do have a rather weird knack of scoring loads of goals, which might just help them steal the fourth place in the league at the end of this season too?

The UEFA Cup Spots

Well, assuming that Villarreal and Sevilla do consume the two remaining Champions League places, it is understandable that Atletico and Valencia finish in fifth and sixth places, right?

Well, maybe Deportivo la Coruna would like to have a say in that. At the moment, the Galician club are seventh in the table, but perhaps more importantly only two points off a UEFA Cup spot and remarkably only three points from sneaking into a Champions League spot.

Super Depor have 27 points from 16 league matches but they have a woeful away form: they have won only twice away from home in eight matches.

So can Depor finish in the top six? Well, doesn't look too likely but La Liga is full of romance and weird occurrences......

The Relegation Battle

At the start of the season, the newly promoted sides must have been the staunch favourites to slip down the yawning trapdoor down into the Segunda Division, or "hell" as the former Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil had christened it.

But two of the three promoted sides seem to have secured their place in the Spanish top flight for one more season at least. Sporting de Gijon's terrible start to the season, which owed much to the fixture weirdo that obliged them to play Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal in succession, have tempered away to a comfortable 11th place in the table and it does seem that the likes of Roberto Canella, Sergio Matabeuna and Mate Bilic would be able to keep the ship afloat.

The same can be said of Malaga, who are actually ninth in the table, one point better off Sporting. So who are going to suffer relegation then? Osasuna, Recreativo de Huelva and Espanyol currently hold the bottom three positions but not far from danger are Real Mallorca, Almeria and Numancia, maybe even Racing Santander and Real Betis.

Osasuna seemed doomed for the drop but a timely win for them against Getafe in Week 16 and a (un)timely defeat for Recre away at Deportivo la Coruna ensured that the Pamplona side remain in contention of staving off relegation.

Espanyol are in institutional crisis and things hardly show any sign of improvement. But somehow you do feel that the quality they possess in Raul Tamudo, Luis Garcia and Daniel Jarque would eventually help them survive.

So which three sides are going to be relegated? Here are the picks of yours truly:

Osasuna, Recreativo, Real Mallorca

The Pichichi

At the moment Cameroonian international striker Samuel Eto'o tops the goalscoring chart in La Liga with 15 goals from 14 starts. Eto'o is on fire this season and it appears that after last season's debacle, he has restored himself to his old self and defences across the top flight in Spain are shuddering.

But not far behind is Spain's top marksman David Villa of Valencia. El Guaje has scored 12 goals in 16 starts for Los Che so far this season but perhaps he needs to shake off an apparent lack of confidence in front of goal he has imbibed recently. He has scored just once from open play in one and a half months.

Real Madrid's striker-turned-midfielder-turned-goalscorer Gonzalo Higuain is third in the list with 11 goals, followed closely by Diego Forlan and Lionel Messi with 10 each, one more than what Sergio Aguero has scored so far.

Well, it does appear that Eto’o should be the winner of the Pichichi trophy at the end of the season but rest assured that David Villa isn't going to back down.  

Subhankar Mondal