According to Joaquin, striker for Valencia, the reason that his team are currently out playing everyone and top of the league is because now they have a decent manager, Unai Emery.

Joaquin has slated their ex manager Ronald Koeman of Holland and said that 'fortunately, this year we have a manager.' He also commented that 'The changing room has changed a lot (new colour maybe?) and you can feel a different sensation. Now when you enter you forget about last year's problems.'

Emery, who was born in Hondarribia, has only managed Almeria and Lorca before but has made an profound impact with his new squad. But why had he been so successful? If you compare his experience to Ronald Koeman, who has helped manage the Dutch national side, and also won the Dutch league with PSV, and the Copa Del Rey with Valencia last year, you'd have thought that if he couldn't turn Valencia around then no one could.

But Koeman was sacked (even though they won the cup) in April last year after they were 15th and only two points of relegation.

Emery has certainly worked his magic and is doing something right. Can he keep it up though? I reckon he can, what do you think?

Valencia remain top of La Liga after the 5th Jornada after beating Deportivo 4 v 2 in a quality game.

Deportivo took the lead after a silly defensive own goal by Moretti (11), but it wasn't long before Mata equalised after 34 minutes after a cross from Joaquin.

In the second half Villa made it two on 49 minutes thanks to a pass from Mata, and then Joaquin made it three after a lovely move from both Mata and Villa yet again. The fourth came on 81 mnutes; an easy tap in for Villa after Mata knocked it across the area.

Deportivo managed a consolation goal on 84 mins by Lafita, but only because the Valencia defense stopped because they thought it was offside, but it wasn't.

The awesome threesome Villa, Mata and Joaquin took control of the game up front and made some real difficulties for the shaky Deportivo defense.

That leaves Villa with the Pichichi -the honor of top goal scorer in La Liga. 

Villa's hopes of winning the league with Valencia are looking more and more likely every week; if they carry on crushing their opponents then Barca and Real Madrid will need to step it up a level if they're going to stop them. Bring it on, I love a bit of a challenge. What do you think? Is it time for a new Liga champion?

Valencia are proving to become a real threat to top of the pile this season, and with Deportivo's poor recent performances can we expect them to make a dent on Valencia's form?

Valencia are solid.

Even though Valencia have been without Eurocup wonder boy Silva they've been pretty strong, today we should see the return of left winger Vincente but German keeper Hildebrand is still not ready to start.

Valencia coach Unai Emery seems confident that he can get the fans behind him this year 'This objective is to create some chemistry with the public, play strong in Mestalla (the stadium) and get the fans behind us. We need to show strength and willpower. This is an important game to reassure ourselves and we should be extra motivated for the public and obtain their support to continue being top of the league,' he said boldly. So he wants to get the fans behind him? Are you a Valencia fan? What do you feel about your team's recent performances? Aren't the fans already proud of Los Che?

If Deportivo are to stand a chance then surely they'll have to keep David Villa under their belts. Villa has scored 62 goals in 105 games with Valencia (0.59 a game), and teh other day he demonstrated his ambition by saying he wants to win the league.

Deportivo Dreaming

But Deportivos goalkeeper Aranzubia knows what his team is up against 'Villa is one of the best strikers in La Liga, if not the best, and even though you have to be weary of any striker, with Villa you have to be extra careful.' You can say that again mate.

Meanwhile coach Miguel Ángel Lotina wants his team to push forward and get some goals, they haven't netted a ball in four games. He commented on the way Johan Cruyff used to think but knows that maybe with his side it's not that realistic. 'Every time we get the ball we need to finish near the goal or with at least a shot, like Cruyff said, and like this they can't counter attack. This is impossible, but it we need to push forward and get some shots and hopefully a goal.' The man is a genius.

Deportivo will be without the suspended De Guzman today but Valeron should be back after resting midweek. But who's going to break the scoring duck? Is it time for Riki to start scoring?

What's gonna happen?

I think that the only team who'll be playing the 'Cruyff way' will be Valencia, Villa is on great for and if he can get some assists from Joaquin and Vincente then they'll be no problem going back to top of the league.

Valencia 3 v Deportivo 1.

And no it's not because now they've had this shirt printed. Today, David Villa, striker for Valencia and Spain, told Radio Marca in an interview why he didn't go to Real Madrid 'Before the Eurocup the decision that was made by the club was to sell me, but when I got back off holiday Vincente Soriano, the president, said he didn't want to sell me,' and if he told you to put your head in a hot Paella dish than would you? 'He didn't care about the debt of the club or what other offers were made, he wanted me to stay,' he added.

So basically after Villa became even more of a superstar after the Eurocup he decided not to sell him, fair enough Soriano, a bold decision. But will he stay until 2014? Just because he's signed a 'contract' and you've had a sexy shirt made for him doesn't mean he'll stay.

Villa also stopped rumors that Raul had said that he didn't want to play with him at Madrid 'The rumor isn't true. A player with as much class as Raul, on and off the pitch, knows that it's impossible that anyone can go to their president and say they don't want their club to sign a player or say something bad about them. I've always had a good relationship with Raul even though we haven't played much together with the national side,' he said.

He also denied that if Real Madrid had offered more money then he could have gone 'I don't think so because Vincente said he wouldn't accept any offer,' what any offer? He did say though that in two years things could change and Valencia might want to sell him.

But he did admit that maybe he'd like to finish his career at Sporting where he began. Sounds like Villa was very professional and loyal to Valencia today in the interview. Good on him.

Betis still haven't scored in La Liga this season and their manager Chaparro is losing his patience 'we get in the area but we're not scoring goals, what would be ideal is to have someone who can guaranty 20 or 25 goals,' wise words Chaparro, wise words. Someone who could score one goal would be nice? What's happening to new boy Sergio Garcia?

Not much by the looks of things.

Sevilla manager Jimenez has said that he's not happy 'We didn't loose but maybe we should have been more ambitious, like we were in the last twenty five minutes' but who is to blame for that Jimenez? Maybe if you had started with Capel, Navas and Maresca instead of Acosta and Romaric then your team may have got off to the start that everyone was expecting. His decision to start with Acosta, on his debut, in such an important game was a surprise to everyone, including Chaparro.

So what does this mean for both teams? Well Betis won't be too displeased with the result after last years double loss against their rivals, but they still failed to score. Sevilla, on the other hand, should have done better, maybe if they had been given one of the two possible penalty decisions, one for Acosta and the other for Fabiano, they would have got the points.

But it wasn't to be for either team, a dull and drab derby which has left the streets quiet, no one has anything to celebrate in Sevilla this evening, no parping horns or late night parties tonight. Which isn't such a bad thing, maybe I’ll get some sleep; unlike Jimenez who'll be kicking himself for not starting Capel.

Elsewhere; Valencia have gone top of the league by beating Osasuna 1 v 0, Racing lost to Madrid 2 v 0, Almeria beat Malaga 1 v 0, Numancia lost 2 v 1 to Villarreal, Athletico beat Valladolid 2 v 0 and Deportivo drew 0 v 0 with Mallorca.

Sevilla may have won tonight but they were far from their best.

They beat Red Bull Salzburg 2 v 0 at home in the first leg of the UEFA cup thanks to a goal from Capel after 5 mins and a late finisher from Adriano on 91, which was possibly offside.

But the Andalucia Kings weren't really flying like they will be this Sunday against their arch rivals Betis. It's the first big derby of the year when the capital of Andalucia, Sevilla, goes crazy; trust me I live here and it goes bonkers all weekend.

In a game where neither Kanuote, Maresca or Adriano started, what was to be expected? Jimenez was blatantly thinking about the weekend's game and this was just a kick about.

Other results from tonight went all Spain's way apart from Deportivo, who lost 2 v 0 against Brann Bergen. Valencia won away 1 v 0 against Maritimo, and Racing won 1 v 0 at home to Honka Espoo poo.

So it's back to La Liga this weekend, keep your eyes open for the Derby, and maybe Barcelona will get a result, or not? 

Sevilla are back in the UEFA Cup.

After getting knocked out in the quarter finals of the Champions League last year they are back in the competition which they won in 2006 and 2007. But can they win it again?

Tomorrow they start their campaign against Red Bull Salzburg, but have they got the wings to fly all the way to the final?

The Austrian team may be out of Sevilla's league and they should win both ties convincingly. Manolo Jimenez, manager of Sevilla, will be making a couple of changes for tomorrow's game, Mosquera for Duscher, Fernando Navarro for Dragutinovic and also Escude for David Prieto. Quite a lot of changes don't you think Jimenez? But after Saturday nights poor defensive display against Sporting then maybe he stands to reason.

Salzburg, who finished 2nd last year in the Austrian team do have a couple of advantages, they're already in their eight week of competitive games in Austria and have played two rounds of UEFA games as well. 

It should be an easy game for Sevilla who will be looking to get thier third trophy in four years, but, and there's always a but, their successful Manager who took them to both finals, Juan de Ramos, is now at Tottenham Hotspurs, also in the competition.

At the moment Sevilla would probably beat them hands down, but if they meet in the league or cup round I'm sure Juan de Ramos's new boys will get sweet revenge on the Sevillistas (yes I am a Spurs fan, and I live in Sevilla so I hope we meet them, and stuff them).

Other Spanish teams in UEFA tomorrow are Valencia v Maritimo, Racing v Honka Espoo (Espoo? who invented that?) and Brann Bergen v Deportivo.

Guti has received the honor of scoring the 5,000 goal in La Liga. He popped in an equalizer against Numancia in the 18th minute to make him the 5,000 person to make the net ripple in Spain. Raul won the honor for the 4,500th goal.

Elsewhere, Espanyol beat Recreativo 1 v 0 to go top of the league, Valencia lost 2 v 1 against Almeria and Villarreal beat Deportivo 1 v 0, Malaga v Athletic and Getafe v Betis were both 0 v 0.

It's still early days and things aren't looking cushty for the Barca and Real at the moment. Let’s hope we get some more saucy Numancia action next week and keep the top two on their toes.

NEXT WEEK BIG DERBY BETIS V SEVILLA!