Last week's leader Cañizares was in the wars this weekend after a fortuitous clash of knees with Jordi Cruyff in the game at Alavés. The Spanish international keeper was carried off with only a quarter of an hour on the clock, and first reports were that he had a serious ligament problem. In the end though it was not as bad as all that, and he is expected to be back after the two week Christmas break. His replacement Palop was an able substitute though, and with Dutruel back on top form at the other end, the game ended scoreless. Cañizares loses top spot in the chart though after Cavallero helped Celta to a 0-2 victory at Valladolid.

It was another low scoring weekend, with seven clean sheets including the three mentioned above. Like Dutruel, Sanzol recorded his third in a row to take his side out of the relegation zone, and he enters our table for the first time this week. Osasuna's 1-0 victory over Atlético was one of four such results, including wins for Betis (Prats), Villarreal (Reina) and Racing, where Lemmens came back in to the side in place of Ceballos after a string of bad results. Finally Casillas and Notario didn't play this weekend as the match between Real Madrid and Sevilla was postponed due to the Intercontinental cup. The game has been rescheduled for 2nd January, (03.12.02).