"FC Barcelona will slip up points," insists Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa

Alvaro Arbeloa gives his views on the La Liga title race

32-year-old Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa believes that rival club FC Barcelona will be held down in the coming games as they have a difficult schedule to run in and hopes that Carlo Ancelotti’s men can take advantage of a slightly light schedule and surpass the 4 points gap between the teams.

Real Madrid are currently four points behind their arch-rivals with 9 games still to go in the league but the veteran defender feels that they will manage to match Barcelona in the title race because Barcelona have comparatively a tougher schedule to play against than them.

Looking at the upcoming matches, both the team are up to face tough challenges against the likes of Sevilla and Valencia between now and the end of the season but the Catalans have to face one major game which is against the current title holders Atletico Madrid at the Estadio Vicente Calderon and the real Madrid full-back believes that the rival club will indeed slip-up.

According to Arbeloa, “Barcelona has a tougher schedule than we have, We aim to win all our remaining games. That is our goal, even though we know it will not be easy. Sometimes you spill points when you least expect it. We have two important games in La Liga coming up before the Champions League match versus Atletico Madrid.”

“We want to head into that game in good form, so we must beat Rayo Vallecano and Eibar. The 9-1 win over Eibar was a big boost. It has helped us focus,” he added.

Real Madrid’s next fixture is against Rayo on Wednesday before playing Eibar at Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.