Real Madrid suffered a setback as they lost 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao to hand Barcelona the initiative in the title race.
Aritz Aduriz scored a first-half header to give Ernesto Valverde’s men a superb victory over the European champions.
A win for Barcelona against Rayo Vallecano would see the Catalan giants leapfrog Carlo Ancelotti’s side and take the lead in La Liga.
Sevilla won a seven-goal thriller at Deportivo to banish their away demons and close the gap on fourth-placed Valencia in La Liga.
Oriel Riera opened the scoring for Deportivo but Vitolo levelled a few minutes later and then gave the visitors the lead early in the second half.
Kevin Gameiro's penalty gave Sevilla a bigger advantage which was then reduced as Riera scored again, only for Sidnei's own goal to put the game out of Depor's sight - although Lucas Perez scored from the penalty spot for the Galicians in injury time.
An early strike from Victor Rodriguez gave Elche a win over struggling Almeria to move out of the bottom three.
The winger headed home Jonathas’ cross on six minutes to leave the visitors without a win in four Primera Division matches.
