Francisco Chaparro faces a testing start to his latest stint in charge of Real Betis when he takes his strugglers to high-flying Villarreal.Chaparro, who helped Betis retain their Primera Liga status last season with a final-day victory at Racing Santander after Luis Fernandez had quit, was again handed the reins to the senior side following Sunday's dismissal of Hector Cuper.
Chaparro, the reserve team coach at Betis, has been put in charge until the end of the season but he will have little time to get comfortable in the position before the big games start.
On paper this weekend's encounter looks to be a home banker, with third-placed Villarreal having won five of their seven league matches at El Madrigal this season and second-bottom Betis currently one of just two sides not to have won away.
However, the onus will be on the Betis players to try and become only the second team to beat Villarreal on their own patch since April, with captain Juanito admitting they need to shoulder a large share of the blame for Cuper's demise and the club's current plight.
"We know he (Cuper) has been a coach who has worked quite well. We were happy with him, and we need to apologise to him," said Juanito.
"We have not responded to his work with good performances on the pitch.
"The majority of the responsibility lies with the players and we have to assume our share of that.
"The others as well, but our percentage is bigger because we are the ones who play. The players are the ones who win and lose games.
"I think that the new coach knows he must work on the psychological aspect of the team. We need to recover moral and lift ourselves and meet this challenge."
Betis are four points above bottom club Levante, and four points adrift of the final safety position of safety, which is occupied by Recreativo Huelva - the team who Levante host this weekend.
The good news for Betis and Levante is that two of their nearest rivals at the foot of the table face potentially daunting away matches, with third-bottom Deportivo La Coruna at second-placed Barcelona and 16th-placed Real Murcia at Sevilla.
Sevilla are on a dismal run of domestic form, but at least they stopped a spell of three successive defeats with a 1-1 draw in Wednesday's re-arranged fixture against Osasuna.
Sevilla winger Jesus Navas, who netted his side's equaliser in Pamplona, said after the game: "The truth is that after the break we came out very strong and tried to obtain the victory.
"We have lacked a little luck, but we were much better. We deserved the three points."
Osasuna play host to another struggling giant this weekend, when they welcome Valencia to the Reyno de Navarra.
Valencia have lost eight of their last 12 competitive matches - including a humiliating 3-0 home loss to Athletic Bilbao last time out - and new coach Ronald Koeman has a massive task to get them back on track.
Athletic will be looking to build on that Valencia mauling when they host league leaders Real Madrid, who boast a four-point advantage over Barca.
In this weekend's other matches, in-form neighbours Atletico Madrid and Getafe clash at the Vicente Calderon, Espanyol go to Real Zaragoza in another intriguing clash, while promoted sides Almeria and Real Valladolid face each other and Racing Santander host Real Mallorca.
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