A battle royal at the top of our table, with only one goal separating our top four contenders for the Zamora title after a low scoring weekend. There were seven clean sheets in all, probably the most notable being Víctor Valdés's brilliant performance against Real Sociedad which helped his side to a late victory against Real Sociedad. There were two scoreless draws, one between Gaspercic's Albacete and Aouate's Racing, and the other between Elía's Osasuna and Cañizares's Valencia. The latter was a match which probably should have been postponed after the sudden cot death of the baby daughter of Valencia defender Caneira just a short time before the match was due to start, and football was the last thing on the players' minds.

Three sides changed their goalkeepers this weekend, Moyà coming back in to the Mallorca side to replace Westerveld, Alvaro Nuñez getting a run out for Numancia in place of Juanma, and Arnau getting his first game this season at Málaga, where new manager Antonio Tapia took over from the sacked Gregorio Manzano. The ex Barcelona keeper couldn't have had a better start, his side winning 1-0 for only their second victory in thirteen games. Elsewhere Betis keeper Doblas makes it into our chart after his fourth clean sheet of the campaign, and having started the season as third choice behind Contreras and Prats, he has now become the first name on Serra Ferrer's teamsheet. (17.01.05)