Top three Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia all won on Sunday, while Deportivo La Coruna moved fourth.
Top three all win, Deportivo La Coruna go fourth
A Lionel Messi hat-trick saw Barcelona thumped Tenerife to stay top of La Liga, while high-flying Real Madrid and Valencia also won.
Champions
Barcelona maintained their two point lead at the top thanks to a 5-0 thrashing of
Tenerife.
Messi opened the scoring on 36 minutes before Carles Puyol added a second a minute before the interval.
Messi scored his second on the stroke of half-time before notching his hat-trick on 75 minutes.
Ezequiel Luna then netted an own goal with four minutes remaining to complete the home side's miserable night.
Second-placed Real Madrid kept up the pressure in the title race with a 2-0 win against fellow high-fliers Real Mallorca at a snow-covered Bernabeu.
In-form striker Higuain netted the opener on eight minutes and then set up the second for Esteban Granero five minutes after the interval as Madrid made it nine wins from nine at home this season.
Third-placed
Valencia registered a comfortable win at rock-bottom
Xerez to keep up with the pace at the top.
Threatened surprise
The hosts, who have now accumulated just seven points from 17 games, threatened a surprise when Carlos Calvo (25) cancelled out Juan Mata's 11th minute opener at the Municipal De Chapin.
But Valencia upped their game and David Silva restored their lead eight minutes later and a fine solo effort from Carlos Marchena (69) settled matters.
Deportivo La Coruna gave their UEFA Champions League aspirations a boost as they moved back into the top four with a narrow 1-0 victory at home to 10-man
Osasuna.
The visitors fought hard for long periods but Juan Rodriguez eventually gave Miguel Angel Lotina's men the lead four minutes after the break.
Osasuna then had Javad Nekounam sent off halfway through the second period for bringing down Andres Guardado as the home side held on for the win.
Espanyol returned to winning ways thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win at home to struggling
Real Zaragoza.
The home side took the lead through Joan Verdu after 13 minutes, but were pegged back by Javier Arizmendi's leveller shortly before the break.
Grabbed winner
However, Mauricio Pochettino's side looked the most likely and Fernando Marques grabbed the winner from close-range with just under 20 minutes remaining.
The win sees the Barcelona-based side move five points clear of the relegation zone, while their opponents remain second from bottom.
Malaga stretched their unbeaten run to 10 matches in all competitions but remain in the relegation zone after an eighth draw of the campaign against
Athletic Bilbao.
La Rosaleda have not been defeated since the start of November but a failure to close out victories means they are still battling the drop.
Fernando Llorente was responsible for earning Bilbao a share of the spoils, earning and scoring a late penalty (79) after Weligton's opening goal at the start of the second half (48).
Sporting Gijon ended a dismal recent run with a narrow Primera Division defeat of
Getafe.
Diego Castro put the home side in front after 39 minutes and the strike proved to be the winner.
Getafe's Daniel Cata Diaz hit the post with a header after 57 minutes but it was the closest the visitors came as they suffered just a second loss in their last seven league games.
