Alavés 0 - Espanyol 0

Alavés: Herrera; Contra, Karmona, Téllez, Torres Mestre; Astudillo, Pablo, Nan Ribera (Azkoitia 77'), Ibon Begoña (Julio Salinas 65'); Morales (Magno 91'), Javi Moreno. 4-4-2.
Espanyol: Cavallero; Cristóbal, Nando, Soldevila, Roger; Velamazán, Galca, Sergio (Martín Posse 70'), Arteaga; Navas; Serrano (Manel 65'). 4-4-1-1.

Team changes: Alavés: Téllez, Nan Ribera, Morales for Eggen, Desio, Kodro / Espanyol: Nando, Sergio, Navas, Serrano for Pochettino, De Lucas, Posse, Tamudo.

Goals: None.

Every week it is becoming more and more difficult to fill a whole page with a report on matches involving Alavés, even though they continue to pick up points and hold their place in the top group. I suppose I could just cut and paste.....' Mané packed the centre of play with 4/5 defenders and 5/4 midfielders and suffocated the opposition. Eggen replaced the suspended xxxxx in defence, with veteran yyyyy alone up front. Javi Moreno came on as substitute for yyyyy near the end and scored. Alavés won 1-0'. This week however it wasn't even that. The first choice back four were intact, Desio was suspended in midfield and Javi Moreno started the match up front with yyyyy on the bench and nobody scored. Variations on a theme. There must be something in the rarefied atmosphere around those rolling Basque hills surrounding Vitoria that sends the visiting teams (and roving reporters) to sleep, and maybe the two managers should just agree that it is going to end1-0 or 0-0 and play cards or go to a North coast beach or something. Anyway back to the football. The pre-match build up to this game was heated up (well, defrosted) by statements by Espanyol manager Paco Flores that he would be asking for the return of on-loan players Nan Ribera and Angel Morales at the end of the season. Mané accused him of a lack of respect, and included the two players in his starting line up, with Morales making his first start in many weeks. Flores was in any case thinking more of next Wednesday's cup semi-final with Real Madrid, and decided to rest his entire forward line, bringing in Serrano (who played six seasons at Alavés) as his only attacker. After that there could only have been one result, with the only real chance of the match coming in the last minute when Cavallero saved well at the feet of Javi Moreno. Alavés stay in fifth place despite only picking up three points in the last four matches, during which time they have only scored one goal. Espanyol are still in with an outside chance of a UEFA spot, especially if a third place becomes available for the seventh placed team in the league if the cup winners are already qualified for the champions league (Barcelona or Real Madrid would have to win it for that to happen). They are currently lying in eighth place, a point behind Celta and level with Rayo Vallecano and Valladolid, having picked up eleven points in their last five matches.

Valencia 6 - Oviedo 2

Valencia: Cañizares; Anglomá, Djukic, Pellegrino, Carboni (Fagiani 50'); Angulo, Farinós, Gerard, Kily González (Albelda 64'); Juan Sánchez (Oscar 70'), Piojo López. 4-4-2.
Oviedo: Esteban; Danjou, Boris, Onopko; Losada, Nadj (Jaime 55'), Paulo Bento, Pompei; Dubovsky, Rubén (Rabarivony 55'); Dely Valdés. 3-4-2-1.

Team changes: Valencia: Kily González, Juan Sánchez for Björklund, Oscar / Oviedo: Onopko, Dely Valdés for Keita, Rabarivony.

Goals:
1-0. 17. López. After defence splitting pass by Gerard down centre.
2-0. 30. Danjou (own goal). Turned Angulo's cross from right past his own keeper.
3-0. 49. López. Following 40 metre pass from Kily.
4-0. 58. Angulo. Won ball on right and lobbed keeper with from edge of area.
5-0. 61. Farinós (penalty). After dubious foul by Danjou on Kily.
5-1. 65. Onopko. Unmarked in penalty area after corner from right.
6-1. 83. Oscar. Low shot into corner of net from edge of penalty area.
6-2. 85. Pompei. Direct free kick into top left hand corner of net.

Readers seeing this result may be forgiven for thinking it refers to a tennis match. Valencia are on a roll, and after beating Lazio 5-2 midweek in their Champions League game, they went one better against struggling Oviedo. Their fortunes and those of Barcelona have turned around in a week, with the Catalans on a high last weekend after beating Valencia 3-0, then losing in midweek and this weekend, and Valencia doing just the opposite. What were we saying about a week being a long time etc. etc.? Héctor Cúper decided to keep the same line up as played against Lazio, which meant that Juan Sánchez kept his place alongside Piojo up front. Club captain Gaizka Mendieta is still not fit, although he could return for the second leg of the Champions League. Kily González returned in midfield after injury, although he had to leave the field in the second half after dislocating his shoulder, and another of Valencia's talented youngsters Albelda took his place. Albelda himself has been out since the middle of December through injury. Oviedo's manager Luis Aragonés opted for an attacking line up, his side needing every point they can get to avoid relegation. Dely Valdés returned after missing a match through international duty with Panama, and Onopko returned from a one match suspension to replace Keita, who was just starting his. Oviedo have however the worst away record in the league, not having won outside of the Carlos Tartiere for over a year, and this match was no different. Valencia's young midfield took control, with Gerard, Angulo and Farinós outstanding once again. After his hat-trick last week Gerard was applauded on to the field, despite reports that he had already signed a five year contract with Milan for next season. Milan are apparently ready to pay the transfer clause of 4,000 million Pesetas in full, and Gerard will be earning a post tax salary of around two million Dollars a year, three times his current earnings. This time he did not score, but he made the first goal for Claudio 'Piojo' López with a pass similar to Guardiola's last week. Piojo is another who will be leaving for Italy at the end of this season, and his return to form with three goals in four days must be welcome relief for Lazio after the Argentinian striker had gone through a lean spell. His replacement, Rosenborg's John Carew, is already in the bag, and he watched the match from the stands before taking his final medical check-up before signing. As the goals rained in Cúper rested some of his key players, and Oviedo came back with a couple of goals themselves to salvage a little bit of honour. They are now in deep trouble, although they do have four home matches out of their last six games, including Atlético Madrid and Real Sociedad, and still have to play Sevilla away. Valencia consolidate their sixth spot and look safe for a UEFA place, although they must now be fixing their ambitions a little higher on the Champions League. First though they have a little distraction with the second leg of the Champions League and a possible semi-final against Chelsea or Barcelona. Who knows, if they win the competition they won't have to worry about where they finish in the league. On this form they could just do it.