Atlético Madrid kept their lead at the top with a 3-2 victory over Albacete. Aguilera gave the home side the lead in the opening minutes with a speculative shot from outside of the area, and Fernando Torres almost made it two with a header against the bar soon afterwards. But the visitors came back with a free kick from Toril in off the post to level the scores at half time. Aragonés brought on Dani and Correa either side of the break, and the two combined twice to get a goal apiece before Basti gave the home fans a fright with a goal in the last minute.

Atlético are three points clear of Bernd Schuster's Xerez, who returned to second spot after a 2-0 victory over Elche, also on Saturday evening. Mena gave the home side the lead in the seventh minute with his fifth of the season, and Pineda also took his tally to five with a goal straight after the restart, running on to a long goal kick by Raúl to beat Valerio. Youngster Carlos Solaz had a goal disallowed for the visitors in the second half for a previous hand ball, but his side ended the game with ten men after Redonodo picked up a second yellow card near the end.

Sporting Gijon dealt a body blow to their Asturian neighbours Oviedo with a 0-2 victory in the Nuevo Tartiere stadium. Lozano gave the visitors the lead in the tenth minute, ending Esteban's run of almost seven games without letting in a goal. The home side had a chance to draw level before half time when referee Arcas Piqueras mistakenly awarded a penalty for a non existent hand ball in the area by Dorado, sending off the on-loan Real Madrid player into the bargain. However Spòrting keeper Valencia fisted out Geni's spot kick. The numbers evened up before the break when Onopko got sent off for a second bookable offence, and Villa got Sporting's second goal fifteen minutes in to the second half. The visitors ended the day with nine men after Juan also got his second yellow card, but their win takes them up to the top half of the table for the first time this season. Oviedo lose for the first time since being relegated, although they still ended the day in third spot.

Last week's fourth placed team Racing Ferrol drop a place down the table after suffering their first away defeat of the season, by 2-0 at Eibar. After a dull first half, the Basques finally won through with goals in the last fifteen minutes of the game from Garitano and substitute Guerrero. Their good run continues, and they move up just behind their opponents on goal average with seventeen points.

Salamanca failed to take advantage of Oviedo and Ferrol's slip ups, losing 2-0 to Racing Santander, their fourth game without a win. Cristian Díaz turned Regueiro's cross past his own keeper on the half hour mark, and although Racing were reduced to ten men just after half time when Neru picked up a second yellow card, Ismael converted a last minute penalty after Morán was fouled to give the Cantabrian side a much needed victory. Their technical director and acting manager Quique Setién is expected to name his successor this week.

Hopefully he will do as well as Levante's new manager Pepe Balaguer, who started off his second spell at the club with a 0-1 victory over Burgos. The only goal of the game came from Setvalls in the first half, and although Levante stay in the relegation zone, they are now only a point away from safety. Burgos ended the game with ten men after Isailovic was sent off at the end for a second yellow card, and they drop down to seventh having not won a game in six weeks.

Recreativo Huelva slipped past Salamanca, Ferrol and Burgos to fourth place after a comfortable 0-3 win at Extremadura. All three goals came in the first half, with Raúl Molina getting his sixth of the season and then Oscar Arias and Galán adding two more. Extremadura drop to within a point of the relegation zone, and manager Josu Ortuondo is now under pressure to get a result next week.

Extremadura are now level with Leganés, who lost their relegation battle at Jaén by 1-0. The only goal came from Sierra just before half time, giving the Andalucian side their first victory at home since the beginning of September. They had to hang on in the end though after Milosevic got his marching orders for a second caution after the interval.

Murcia also recorded a much needed win, also by 1-0 against Córdoba. The only goal came from their new signing from Zaragoza, Peternac, his first since joining the East coast side. Both teams are on 14 points in a group of nine teams separated by a single point.

Poli Ejido drop back into trouble after losing an exciting match against Numancia 3-4. The fixture was played at Almería due to the closure of Ejido's ground. Arpón caught the visitors' keeper Jonathan out of position to put the Andalucian side in front, but goals by Rosu, Pacheta and a solo effort by Kome after half time turned the game in favour of the Soria based side. Sergio Cruz headed one back, but Alberto restored the two goal lead with three minutes to go. Referee Pérez Izquierdo, who had already sent off Numancia manager Celestino Vallejo for arguing, also produced an inexplicable second yellow for Jonathan, and with reserve keeper Dani Roiz on the field, Ejido's Angel scrambled home the last goal.

The two bottom clubs Gimnastic Tarragona and Badajoz played out a 1-1 draw to leave further adrift from the rest. Deus opened the scoring for the locals soon after half time, but David Bauzá beat the offside trap to level the scores a few minutes later. Nástic at least move ahead of Poli Ejido on goal average, and still have a game in hand.