Valencia back on top after Huelva draw

David Villa's hot streak continued with his ninth goal of the season helping Valencia reclaim top spot in the Spanish first division with a 1-1 draw at Recreativo Huelva on Sunday.

After a scoreless first half Javier Camunas put Recreativo ahead two minutes after the break feinting his initial shot to create space before thumping in an effort off the post.

But Spanish international Villa equalised on 62 minutes with a tap-in after goalkeeper Asier Risego had pulled off a terrific save to stop Juan Mata's header.

Barcelona had nudged Valencia, now a point ahead of the Catalan giants, from the top with a resounding 5-0 win over Almeria on Saturday with Samuel Eto'o scoring a hat-trick in the first 23 minutes.

Eto'o has nine goals along with Villa at the top of the scoring charts.

Valencia continue their unbeaten start although they haven't faced any of the major teams so far and their first real test is against Sevilla at the end of November.

Sevilla tasted their first defeat of the season with a surprise 1-0 home loss at the hands of promoted Malaga and they fall three points behind Valencia.

Adrian Lopez scored after a quarter of an hour and Sevilla's chances of a comeback all but ended on 66 minutes when Adriano was sent off.

Malaga climb to sixth with their fourth straight win and it was a good day all round for the promoted teams with Sporting Gijon and Numancia winning.

Sporting won at ten-man Deportivo 3-0 while Numancia lifted themselves off the foot of the table with a 2-1 win over Racing Santander.

Mohamed Tchite had equalised for Racing with a 94th-minute penalty before Domingo Cisma scored a sensational 96th minute winner.

Later Villarreal host Atletico Madrid at El Madrigal in the stand-out game of the weekend.

Villarreal are unbeaten in fourth and can move level on points with Valencia at the summit.

Atletico, who drew 1-1 with Liverpool in their midweek Champions League match, have dropped to tenth and have not fared well against the top teams this season losing to Sevilla, Barcelona and Real Madrid in their last three matches.

“This is an opportunity to atone for the three defeats,” said Atletico coach Javier Aguirre. “There is a long way to go in the league but we cannot afford to keep dropping points.”

Real Madrid, four points behind the leaders, aim hope to respond to their 2-1 Champions League defeat to Juventus with a home win over Athletic Bilbao to appease their demanding Santiago Bernabeu public.

Spanish international Sergio Ramos, one of Real's key players, rocked preparations ahead of the Bilbao game by claiming he is overworked and suggesting that coach Bernd Schuster could do without changing the system.

“I find that I'm increasingly alone down the right wing and all the problems we have backlash at me,” Ramos told Spanish daily AS.

“I think it's rather unfair. I'm asked to perform at a high level both in defence and attack for 90 minutes and nobody can sustain that.”

Former Getafe manager Schuster responded to the criticism by saying he hadn't read the interview but Ramos is likely to be given a rap on the knuckles behind closed doors and could be benched for his outburst.