Next Saturday, 8th of November 2014, the all-powerful and apparently indestructible Real Madrid will entertain their neighbours of Rayo Vallecano at Santiago Bernabéu for round 11 of the Liga BBVA, on a match that Los Blancos need to win if they want to maintain their position at the top of La Liga and keep their closest contenders at bay.

Real Madrid have, let’s be honest, fairly conquered their place at the top of La Liga’s table last weekend, as they benefited from Barcelona’s home defeat against the mighty Celta de Vigo and from Sevilla’s slip-up at San Mamés against Athletic Bilbao. Los Blancos, on the other hand, travelled to Andalusia, where they easily smashed a Granada side that was unable to survive Real’s attacking avalanche, especially during the first half of the match.

The current Real Madrid is probably the best of Carlo Ancelotti’s era, as the team displays great consistency back in defence accompanied by a remarkable firepower up front. This “new” Real also looks fairly more mature when it comes to tactics, as the team was able to transition from a 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 classical style into a fairly hybrid 4-4-2 system without losing their essence. Apart from the players, the experienced Italian head coach also needs to be credited for his vision as he understood early this season, after Los Blancos somewhat slow start, that he needed to implement some changes to his team’s structure in order to include the high quality newcomers into the starting line-up.

Last weekend, Real Madrid continued their walk in the park at the UEFA Champions League by defeating Liverpool at the Santiago Bernabéu by 1-0. Although it wasn’t the best performance we have seen from them this season, it was enough both to overcome The Reds and to grant a place at the next stage of the competition.

As for Rayo Vallecano, next weekend’s Madrid derby does not come at the best of times after two consecutive La Liga defeats. Last Monday, Rayo succumbed at home at the hands of the newcomers of Eibar, by 3-2, on a match that would have allowed them to jump several places on the table in case of win. The team of Paco Jemez has been somewhat inconsistent this season and they have only managed to win one match at home.

Real Madrid are obviously favourites for next Saturday’s match, since Rayo have not yet showed enough arguments to defeat a powerful team such as Los Blancos.

Real Madrid

Stats: W-5 L-0 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWW

Rayo Vallecano

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-0

Recent Form - LLWLW

Possible Line-ups

Real Madrid (4-4-2) - Casillas - Nacho - Pepe - Varane - Marcelo - Modric - Kroos - James Rodríguez - Ronaldo - Bale - Benzema

Rayo Vallecano (4-2-3-1) - Toño - Tito - Zé Castro - Amaya - Nacho - Baena - Trashorras - Kakuta - Licá - Bueno - Leo Baptistão

Prediction

Real Madrid 3 Rayo Vallecano 0