Say it with Flores

Flores: can he cause a shock?

It's true that the perfect team doesn't exist and, as I keep saying, football is like a small blanket - if you cover your feet you will expose your head.

Guillem Balague
Quotes of the week

LA LIGA - LIVE ON SKY SPORTS
Barcelona v Mallorca
7pm, Sat, Sky Sports 2
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid
9pm, Sat, Sky Sports 2
Valencia v Zaragoza
7pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1
Sevilla v Villarreal
9pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1

Related links

Teams

• Athletic Bilbao
• Atletico Madrid

• More teams +

  • Barcelona
  • Deportivo La Coruna
  • Espanyol
  • Getafe
  • Malaga
  • Osasuna
  • Racing Santander
  • Real Madrid
  • Real Mallorca
  • Real Valladolid
  • Real Zaragoza
  • Sevilla
  • Sporting Gijon
  • Tenerife
  • UD Almeria
  • Valencia
  • Villarreal
  • Xerez

It promises to be another week of cracking action in La Liga, so who better to look ahead to the four live games on Sky Sports than our Spanish football expert Guillem Balague.

If you've got a question for Guillem, send it in here.

Barcelona v Mallorca
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid
Valencia v Zaragoza
Sevilla v Villarreal

Barcelona v Mallorca
7.00pm, Sat, Sky Sports 2

Mallorca are a great story. They could go bankrupt but in the meantime they have picked up five victories from five home games.

Barcelona have been creating as many chances as before, but have been scoring fewer goals. Also the same number of chances have been created against them - but they are conceding less.

So they have improved in some areas, but the attacking areas where you need to be sharp and physically good is where their level has decreased a little bit.

They are a little bit less effective, but just a little bit. All in all they have better stats than last season.

Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid
7.00pm, Sat, Sky Sports 2

What a game! How brilliant it is that Quique Sanchez Flores has arrived in the week when everything can go completely wrong or completely right for Atletico.

They have been knocked out of the Champions League but they have a very good chance against Real Madrid because you can see all of their weaknesses.

Flores knows both teams very well and it could be one of those surprise results. Atletico are usually psychologically beaten before a game with their city rivals, but this could be the game where they could surprise many and turn their fortunes around.

Valencia v Zaragoza
7.00pm, Sun, Sky Sports 2

Valencia have gone four games without conceding.

They have found the perfect combination with Jordi Alba, Asier del Horno and David Navarro - who has gone from hitting Nicolas Burdisso against Inter and then going on loan to Malaga, but he is now focussed and fulfilling the promise he had.

With David Albelda in front of that triangle, the team is much more solid.

Zaragoza have been up and down. I like Abel Aguilar a lot, but Jermaine Pennant seemed injured last weekend so probably won't play a part in this game.

Sevilla v Villarreal
8.00pm, Sun, Sky Sports 2

I shall discuss Sevilla and Villarreal in depth in the questions below, but this should be a great game.

They are two teams that have lots of quality individuals, but after two victories in a row Villarreal seem to have picked up a little bit of confidence.

After a couple of draws in a row, Sevilla got back to winning ways last weekend so this should be one to watch.

Guillem answers your questions...

Got a question for Guillem? Then send it in here or use the feedback form below, and then look out for his answer next week.

PRAISE FOR PEROTTI
Hey Guillem, how highly do you rate Perotti, the Argentine left winger for Sevilla? He seems a real prospect, more creative than just a blind runner who can cross. But do you think Sevilla, with Perotti and Navas on the other side and two up front, are too weak in centre midfield? They seem like one of the only top teams left that play a straight doble pivote 4-4-2. Best, Alex

GUILLEM SAYS: I agree with you that Perotti is not just a winger and he will be better than Navas. I see him as a player who doesn't depend only on pace and dribbling ability, he's more of a goalscorer than Navas for instance and although he's not very big he's got better stamina than Navas. He likes to cut inside and be involved in the build up and I think we are seeing someone who is going to become one of the top five players in La Liga by next season. All in all they are both great wingers to have, completely different. I don't think they are weak in central midfield because everybody puts lots of work in, including Navas, Perotti and the strikers. I think it's a very balanced side; one that will drop points in the league and may have to fight for second position with Real Madrid - but one that I think can do a lot of harm in the Champions League.

HE AZ POTENTIAL
Hola Guillem. Good work as per usual with your La Liga analysis, I'm always excited when your articles are posted. Anyways, onto the point, I have two questions. Firstly, how do you think Villarreal and Atletico Madrid will finish this season. So far, for both teams, it has looked very gloomy, whereas in the past seasons, both teams have been very successful. Secondly, I would like to hear your opinions on Osasuna defender César Azpilicueta. Due to one of my friends continuously talking about the kid as he is an Osasuna fan, I would like to know your opinion about him as he sounds very promising. Thank you. Daniel Smith

GUILLEM SAYS: Thank you for your nice words Daniel. I think Atletico Madrid will get better now they have a coach that is going to improve them defensively. It's true that the perfect team doesn't exist and, as I keep saying, football is like a small blanket - if you cover your feet you will expose your head (and the other way around). But it was shocking the way Atletico Madrid were defending. You can be an offensive team and be weak at the back, but you can improve on the way you defend set pieces. There's no excuse for that and I think they will improve on their strategy in that department.

So will Villarreal. There are small changes that Ernesto Valverdehas made with the side to make them more aggressive, more counter attacking and more high-tempo. It's started to have an effect. It's important that the centre-back Gonzalo Rodriguez hasn't been the same after injury - and if you're going to push the defensive line up you need Ivan Marcano, who played at the weekend against Tenerife. I'm pretty sure both will battle for the top six.

I like Azpilicueta a lot, but he is still not the finished article. He's been watched by Arsenal who were interested in him but are not so any more. We saw Mark Hughes watching Osasuna v Barcelona - and he didn't go to see Barcelona players or meet Barcelona directors (although he did have the chance to cross paths with Txiki Begiristain). He went to see the left back Nacho Monreal, the offensive midfielder Javad Nekounam and Azpilicueta, who had a good game. He still doesn't defend perfectly; in the Under-20 World Cup a couple of months ago he had a very poor performance against the Italian left winger in the game that saw Spain get knocked out. He's still got lots of room to improve, but he's a very promising player, who's big and can attack and defend.

A MARE FOR MALAGA
Hola!!! I read that you have written off Malaga to survive this season, is it not too early to do so? I am from Malaga and I follow you every week. I truly believe that Malaga will survive. We need to get a coach, younger if possible, like Umei that can understand what we are looking for. Anyway, I am 100% confident that Malaga will survive. If not I will invite you for a paella in my Spanish local!! Un abrazo, Sergio Chaves.

GUILLEM SAYS: Right. That's a deal! If Malaga go down I get a paella. I just don't see them staying up. I know they've got the right back Jesus Gamez and they've got Apono, but I still don't see it. There's rumours that Juande Ramos could take over and Juan Ramon Muniz could be sacked, but even so you need much more quality. They only have about 10million euros to pay all the wages and get all the transfers done and money talks at that level. They just haven't got as much quality as they had last season. We'll see but I see them going down with Xerez - although I hope you're right because my mum is from Malaga!