MADRID, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Friday sees the start of a marathon of football in Spain's Liga Santander with the fifth round of matches this season.
The round of games begins on Friday night and Real Sociedad coach Asier Garitano has to decide whether to keep faith with goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli after two bad errors cost his side defeat at home to Barcelona last weekend.
Real Sociedad travel to Huesca, whose home debut in the top flight was spoiled by a home defeat to Rayo Vallecano a week ago.
Repair work in Rayo's Vallecas Stadium means they are able to play Alaves in front of their home fans after their last home match was cancelled due to safety concerns over their ground.
Valladolid travel to play Celta Vigo looking for their first win and their first goals of the season: Valladolid's only points so far have come from two 0-0 draws, while Celta's unbeaten start came to an end in Girona on Monday night.
Leganes make the long trip to Eibar bottom of the table and looking for their first win of the season. Eibar were seconds away from a win in Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium a week ago, but coach Jose Luis Mendilibar has warned of overconfidence against a rival in desperate need for points.
This week saw Atletico Madrid players complain about the state of the pitch in the Wanda after their Champions League win away to Monaco. Diego Simeone will be hoping they can keep that form up as they cross the city to play an always complicated Getafe, who are fresh from an impressive victory in Sevilla thanks to two Angel Rodriguez goals.
Real Madrid end Saturday's matches at home to Espanyol; a side that traditionally loses in the Santiago Bernabeu.
Mariano Diaz will be hoping for a start in attack after returning to the club with a fine goal against Roma on Wednesday night, while Courtois returns in goal after being rested in Europe.
The action switches to the east coast of Spain for much of Sunday with Levante entertaining Sevilla, who have a Europa League tie at home to Standard Liege on Thursday.
Valencia will hope to take advantage of a European hangover at Villarreal when they travel up the coast. Valencia are still winless this season in the league and lost 2-0 at home to 10-man Juventus on Wednesday. Villarreal meanwhile took their first win of the campaign away to Leganes a week ago.
Betis entertain Athletic Club Bilbao after facing Olympiakos in Europe and will find the visitors high on confidence after they held Real Madrid a week ago.
The round of matches ends when FC Barcelona entertain Girona in a Catalan derby. Barca have won all of their games so far this season, although their results have generally been better than their performances, with Leo Messi and Ousmane Dembele's displays in attack helping to cover for some defensive lapses.
With a busy fixture schedule ahead Barca coach Ernesto Valverde could use this as the chance to rest some key players and give a chance to new arrivals such as Clement Lenglet, Arturo Vidal and Arthur.
