Real Madrid take on Rayo Vallecano on Saturday hoping to take over Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in La Liga and reach the top of the table.
Los Blancos are trailing the Catalans by one point and sit in the third position with the same points than Atletico. They will play a few hours sooner than their rivals and they will seek a victory to pile pressure on them.
Zinedine Zidane will miss Cristiano Ronaldo and Daniel Carvajal through injury, and Casemiro through suspension.
Lucas Vazquez is expected to feature in midfield following his great performance against Villarreal on Wednesday. Jese Rodriguez and Isco are the main candidates to replace Ronaldo in attack. In defence, Danilo will most likely replace Carvajal at right-back.
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale and Pepe are expected to return to the starting eleven having recovered from their muscle problems.
Rayo Vallecano will also miss several key players. Cobeno, Tono, Baena, Piti, Ze Castro and Ebert are a loss due to injury. Diego Llorente, who is on loan from Real Madrid, will also miss the match as a clause in his contract prevents him from playing against Los Blancos.
Possible line-ups:
Real Madrid: Navas; Danilo, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Vazquez, Kroos, Modric; Bale, Benzema, Jese Rodriguez.
Rayo Vallecano: Juan Carlos; Quini, Amaya, Crespo, Tito; Hernandez, Iturra, Trashorras, Embarba; Guerra, Miku.
