Sporting Gijon moved clear of the relegation zone while Atletico Madrid and Valencia cantered home.
Gijon, Valencia and Atletico win as three games end in draws
Sporting Gijon moved clear of the relegation zone while Valencia and Atletico Madrid cantered home.
Valencia took a giant step towards securing themselves a third-place finish with a comprehensive victory over local rivals
Villarreal at the Mestalla.
Roberto Soldado, who netted all four goals in last weekend's 4-2 win at Getafe, continued his fine run of form by opening the scoring in the 14th minute.
Juan Mata notched twice in the second half - either side of an Ever Banega strike - before Soldado's second goal sealed the rout to increase Valencia's advantage over fourth-placed Villarreal to six points with seven games remaining.
Atletico Madrid boosted their bid for a European berth by claiming a deserved 3-0 victory over freefalling
Real Sociedad at Vicente Calderon.
First-half goals from Filipe Luis and Mario Suarez set Atletico on their way and captain Sergio Aguero sealed the spoils with his side's third 12 minutes from time.
The victory, Atletico's second in succession following their away win over Osasuna, saw the Rojiblancos move level on 45 points with sixth-placed Athletic Bilbao, who lost to Real Madrid on Saturday.
For last season's Segunda Division champions Sociedad, the defeat means they have now taken just one point from a possible 21 in their last seven games and they are now just five points above the relegation zone.
In-form
Sporting Gijon followed up their stunning win over Real Madrid with a 1-0 victory against
Osasuna on Sunday that left the Asturian side within touching distance of safety.
David Barral struck the only goal of the game midway through the second half following a bad defensive error as Sporting made it three successive 1-0 wins and 13 points from their last five games.
It also saw them climb up to 11th place in the standings - eight points clear of the relegation zone with only seven games remaining.
Hercules missed the chance to move out of the drop zone as they were held to a goalless home draw by off-form
Espanyol.
Momentum
The Alicante-based side won their first game under new coach Miroslav Djukic last weekend with a 3-1 win at Real Sociedad and were looking to make it two in a row against an Espanyol outfit who had lost eight of their last 10 league matches.
Both sides had their chances in an entertaining encounter, but Hercules looked the more likely to claim all three points as they piled on the pressure in the final half an hour.
Rafa Jorda equalised a minute from time as
Levante drew 1-1 at
Racing Santander to extend their unbeaten run in the Primera Division to seven matches and move the Valencia-based outfit a step closer to retaining their top-flight status.
Nano's own goal had given Racing the lead 13 minutes before half-time, but Levante never gave up and got their reward in the closing stages when Jorda beat Tono to keep the promoted side nine points clear of the bottom three with just seven games left.
Levante's only defeat in the previous 10 league matches was a 2-0 loss at Real Madrid, and Luis Garcia's side boast the best record of any team outside the top two in the second half of the championship.
Malaga drew 0-0 with
Deportivo La Coruna at La Rosaleda although the visitors had to play an entire half with 10 men.
Neither side could make the breakthrough to ease their relegation worries and Depor's Laure was shown his marching orders after receiving two yellow cards.
