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High five

Image: Rijkaard: Barca struggle on the road

Guillem thinks five teams can win La Liga this season - but Barcelona need to improve their away form to take the title.

We've got some very good matches coming up in La Liga this weekend, starting on Saturday with Getafe v Barcelona.

Getafe v Barcelona

Barcelona are facing a very difficult test because they are simply not the same team away from home. So far this season they've drawn three and lost one on their travels and they seem to drop their work-rate. Frank Rijkaard was very upset about their last trip away to Valladolid when they didn't have enough chances, didn't control the ball and didn't have a cutting edge up front. They need to improve on that if they want to win the league. Furthermore, all of their goals have been scored by strikers when they play away. No midfielders or defenders have found the net so far and they concede too many at the other end. It's time for a leap in quality or else they will face even more criticism. Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and the rest are all improving, but they need to show it away from the Camp Nou. Barcelona are going to Getafe at the wrong time. Getafe beat them 4-0 in the cup last year, but they are a completely different side at the moment. Michael Laudrup, who is of course a former Barcelona player, is going through his first experience as manager in a top league. There's mixed feelings about him because while they managed to get their first away win in six attempts against Osasuna last weekend, it has been a difficult start to the season. His lack of experience has forced the players to become a little bit autonomous and they've started to do things their own way. They've had meetings away from the coach to try and sort things out because things didn't start too well. Their main conclusion was that everybody needs to work a bit harder. They've started doing that and players like Ikechukwu Uche, Ruben De La Red, Javier Casquero and Kepa are helping to improve things.

Real Madrid v Mallorca

On Sunday, Real Madrid's match with Mallorca is the type of game Bernd Schuster's side could struggle in. Mallorca play wonderful football, they have their best goalscoring team for a couple of decades and they love counter-attacking football. Real Madrid feel a bit more pressure at home and while they have had very good results at the Santiago Bernabeu, the football hasn't been great. The fact that two of their most consistent players - Guti and Sergio Ramos - are missing for the match will definitely leave Real facing a big challenge. For Mallorca, the partnership of Dani Guiza and Juan Arango is one of the best strikeforces in La Liga. Furthermore, Jonas Gutierrez is also becoming one of their most important performers up front. He is Argentinean, plays wide and is very direct - a better version of Yossi Benayoun in my opinion. He doesn't seem to want to renew his contract and I know two English clubs are after him, so he could end up in the Premier League. Keep an eye on that one. I reckon Mallorca could do some real harm at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Villarreal v Sevilla

Villarreal and Sevilla are two great teams. When they are on television I always watch them and if I have the chance to go and watch them live I always do so because they play wonderful football. Sevilla are back focusing on what is at stake this season and they are already playing with the kind of form that we saw from them last season. They are a little bit stronger at the back, which helps and Seydou Keita is becoming one of the stars of the season in central midfield, so he's definitely one to watch. Giuseppe Rossi is out for six weeks for Villarreal, but I think they've still got enough to challenge for the title. I'm saying that because the players and the coach are saying it themselves. They believe they can do it and that is the first step to actually achieving it. It's going to be a fascinating season and we are going to have maybe five teams challenging in the last third of the campaign. Villarreal and Sevilla will be two of them for sure. Do you agree with Guillem? Let us know what you think by using the feedback form below and continue to email him your questions here

Guillem answers your questions...

Have you seen much of Henok Goitom for Murcia? What is your impression of him, has he got what it takes to be a successful striker in La Liga? Abel Kahsay. GUILLEM REPLIES: Goitom is someone I'd put in my list of players to watch this season. He has taken a little bit longer than I expected to adapt, but he is definitely going to end up at a better team in the near future. He is the type of player that could save Murcia's season, especially if he starts scoring goals, but he is about more than that. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of him and I think he's so talented that he could do the kind of job that Florent Sinama-Pongolle did at Recreativo last season and score 10 or 11 goals to keep Murcia up. He's got to get a little bit better and adapt more, but definitely keep an eye on him. Guillem, what's happened to David Villa? He was banging in the goals last season and now he seems to have misplaced his shooting boots! Do you think his lack of goals has anything to do with the on-off Chelsea move at the end of last season? Do you think he's still happy at the Mestalla? Or will Valencia cash in? Could you see him coming to the Premier League? Gracias, Dave, Sidcup. GUILLEM REPLIES: David Villa has two problems. One is that he has had injuries and that has never happened to him before. The second problem is Valencia's form. Valencia haven't played to suit him this season and it's a similar problem to what Henry is facing at Barcelona. The balls he has been receiving have not been the sort to benefit his game and Valencia have dropped their levels all over the pitch. He hasn't been firing on all cylinders either because he hasn't managed to be completely fit for long periods of time. He has set himself a target of scoring 25 goals this season and if he does that he will be bought by either Real Madrid, Barcelona or Chelsea because I think he probably feels he has come to the end of a cycle at Valencia. I know that upsets Valencia fans, but believe me, that's what is going on at the moment. Hi Guillem, I'm not too sure about Ronald Koeman as Valencia's new manager but I'm willing to give him a chance. What I hope is that he can shore up the defence as we just haven't looked solid all season and have conceded 19 goals in La Liga already this season. It seems to me that we haven't replaced Roberto Ayala - I'm not convinced about Ivan Helguera - and Koeman will have to bring a decent centre-half in January. What do you think Guillem? Pablo, London. GUILLEM REPLIES: People think that Koeman will play total football - even the director of football at Valencia has said that. Well, I've seen Koeman's teams at Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Benfica and it's not really total football, perhaps because he didn't have the players to play that way. He is a defensive coach first and foremost. He likes to secure points first and he doesn't like to risk anything. What is clear is that Quique Sanchez Flores didn't deliver the rise in quality that Valencia deserved. Koeman, however, is very ambitious. I have spoken to players at Valencia and they seem to have raised their level a little bit. He has got an aura, is an inigma and they think it is an ambitious step to appoint somebody like him. At the back I'm not convinced about Helguera either and it's a shame that Alexis is going to be out for four months. But the problems are also in defensive midfield as well. They've got to give a chance to Sunny and Manuel Fernandes and rest David Albelda a little bit more. Edu is about to come back - hopefully he will be joining us on Revista next week - and his return will help when the team start looking to score more rather than just looking to stop conceding. Valencia will also be in the top four or five in the last third of the season, I have no doubt about that.

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