Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti will have some selection decisions to make for Saturday's city derby with Atletico, with the Los Blancos squad troubled by injuries.
James Rodriguez is out after fracturing his right foot, while Nacho Fernandez and Raphael Varane are set to start at the centre of the Real defence with both Sergio Ramos and Pepe injured.
Marcelo is out after being shown a fifth yellow card of the season, but Fabio Coentrao is fit once again and will replace the Brazilian at left-back.
However, Cristiano Ronaldo, who celebrated his 30th birthday on Thursday, is back after missing the last two matches following his red card against Cordoba.
"I still have not decided who will play tomorrow in the midfield, I will decide tomorrow," Ancelotti said at his pre-match press conference.
"It's a game that offers three points for both teams. We lead (the league) but that means nothing. Effective possession is very important but also the game speed."
His counterpart Diego Simeone has faced questions over his team's style after some in the Spanish media described them as too aggressive.
"We don't know how to play differently. We are an intense team and we will not change our style," the Rojiblancos boss said at a press conference on Friday.
"Every team has its own style of play and you can win things in different manners. When I got here, one of the goals was to restore Atletico's image of being a strong and intense team, like it has always been."
Victory for Atletico would close the gap between themselves and Real to four points, while it would give Barcelona the chance to move to within one point of Real.
They travel to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday on the back of eight successive wins.
"In Bilbao we always go with the same idea - keep the ball, deploy our game," Barca full-back Jordi Alba told reporters.
"They are a young team that likes to play football and are very dangerous in the air, which is something which must be taken into account.
"They are a dangerous rival."
Fourth-placed Sevilla travel to Getafe with a host of injury problems, with Portuguese goalkeeper Beto out for 10 weeks, joining the likes of Jose Antonio Reyes (hamstring) and defender Benoit Tremoulinas (knee) on the sidelines, while Kevin Gameiro (groin), Sebastian Cristoforo (knee), Nicolas Pareja and Piotr Trochowski (knee) did not figure in midweek.
Valencia in fifth travel to Barcelona to face Espanyol on Sunday, while Villarreal host struggling Granada, who occupy the final relegation place.
In Saturday's other matches, bottom side Levante are at home to Malaga, while Celta Vigo travel to San Sebastian to face Real Sociedad in the late game.
Cordoba are only above the drop zone on goal difference and they host Almeria in Sunday's early game, while on Monday Elche play Rayo Vallecano.
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