Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid will enter round 22 of the season with a point between them and, while enough time will remain to rectify any slip-ups this weekend, their three fixtures have the look of season-defining matches.
On Saturday, league leaders Barcelona (54 points, plus 44 goal difference) will host Valencia, while on Sunday, Atletico (54, plus 38) will welcome Real Sociedad to the Spanish capital and Real (53, plus 39) will travel to take on Athletic Bilbao.
Valencia have been uncharacteristically poor this season and sit 10th heading into Saturday's clash with Barcelona, 29 points adrift of the Catalans.
Sociedad will arrive at Atletico's Estadio Vicente Calderon in sixth spot in La Liga and on the back of a 4-0 thrashing of Elche.
The Basque club have only lost once in their past 10 competitive outings and with French striker Antoine Griezmann in third position in La Liga's scoring charts after a brace against Elche, Sociedad will pose a significant threat to Atletico.
But Carlo Ancelotti's men will need to overcome a tenacious Bilbao side if they are to make the most of any potential slip-ups by their title rivals.
