Real Madrid can cement their La Liga favourites tag when they host Valencia on Saturday.
Madrid bounced back from their El Clasico defeat on Wednesday by thrashing Deportivo La Coruna.
Despite fielding a heavily rotated side, they won 6-2 away from home with Alvaro Morata opening the scoring inside of a minute.
Valencia’s poor season continued as they were beaten at home by Real Sociedad on the same day.
They rallied from 3-0 down to get within one, however they couldn’t find a late leveller.
La Liga form: Real Madrid W3 D1 L1; Valencia W2 D1 L2
La Liga top scorers
Real Madrid – Cristiano Ronaldo 19 goals
Valencia – Munir & Santi Mina 6 goals each
Match history
Valencia have a good recent record against Real Madrid, losing just one of the last six meetings between the pair.
Valencia recorded a 2-1 victory when the two sides met earlier in the season, going two up inside of 10 minutes.
Last five meetings
Valencia 2 Real Madrid 1 – 22/02/17
Real Madrid 3 Valencia 2 – 08/05/16
Valencia 2 Real Madrid 2 – 03/02/16
Real Madrid 2 Valencia 2 – 09/05/15
Valencia 2 Real Madrid 1 – 04/01/15
Draw HT / Real Madrid FT – 7/2 with Bet 365
Team news
Real Madrid will once again be without Pepe and Gareth Bale here.
They could continue to rotate the team with their Champions League semi-final first leg during the week.
Valencia are without the banned duo Simone Zaza and Joao Cancelo.
They will have Eliaquim Mangala and Dani Parejo available though after both missed Wednesday’s loss.
Expected starting XI’s
Real Madrid (4-3-3): Navas; Carvajal, Nacho, Ramos, Marcelo; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric; Ronaldo, Benzema, Asensio
Valencia (4-2-3-1): Alves; Montoya, Mangala, Garay, Lato; Perez, Parejo; Mina, Soler, Nani; Munir
Predictions
Result: Real Madrid (1/6 with Bet 365)
Correct Score: 3-1 (10/1 with Paddy Power)
Anytime Goalscorer: Karim Benzema (11/20 with Betfair)
