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Valencia's pacy attack proved too much for Real Zaragoza as they enjoyed a comfortable 3-1 win at the Mestalla in La Liga.

Zaragoza have statistically the second worst defence in La Liga and it was easy to see why in a terrible first half defensive performance as Juan Mata, David Villa and Hernandez Pablo all found the net to end the match as a contest by half-time.

Aguilar grabbed a goal mid-way through the second half for the visitors, but it proved to be just a consolation.

Zaragoza's insistence on playing a high line against such a quick Valencia attack proved to be a bad decision with Mata being the first to benefit, the Spanish international finishing coolly past Javier Vallejo after the visitor's defence had stopped for offside.

The Zaragoza players immediately surrounded the referee as Silva's pass was meant for David Villa, who was in an offside position. Indeed the referee's assistant had correctly flagged the offside, but the referee allowed the play to continue with the Zaragoza defence left standing.

While Zaragoza may have had complaints with the officials for the first goal, they could only look at themselves for the next two.

First came Pablo beating the offside trap and crossing to David Villa, who could not miss from six yards out.

And two minutes later it was an almost exact reverse, Villa the provider this time for Pablo to strike from six yards out.

Valencia started the second half in much the same vein as the first and were able to carve open their opponents defence at will.

And if it weren't for the efforts of Vallejo the scoreline could have been far worse for the visitors, the Zaragoza keeper denying Pablo in a one-on-one and then saving smartly from Villa.

At the other end, Zaragoza did not look like threatening at all until second half substitute Babic's shot was too hot for Cesar to hold on to in the Valencia goal, with Aguillar finishing the rebound into an empty net for an unlikely goal.

Valencia responded by going on the attack, with Vallejo once more saving good efforts, including a close range header from David Navarro and a looped shot from Pablo.

Zaragoza had the ball in the net for a second time late on, but Babic was correctly flagged offside.

Valencia's richly-deserved fourth league win in a row keeps them in touch with Barcelona and Real at the top of the table while Zaragoza slip down to 13th.

Sevilla came out on top of a 3-2 thriller as they hosted Villarreal thanks to a winner from substitute Freddie Kanoute.

Luis Fabiano gave the hosts the lead before Robert Pires and debutant David Fuster put Villarreal in front with half an hour left, only to see Fabiano and Kanoute score in the space of five minutes to give Sevilla the points.

Athletic Bilbao won 2-0 at Racing Santander and Sporting Gijon beat visiting Espanyol 1-0 thanks to a third-minute goal from Croatia striker Mate Bilic.

Osasuna, who held Barca to a 1-1 draw last weekend, lost 2-0 at Hugo Sanchez's Almeria and Xerez climbed back off the bottom above Malaga with a 0-0 draw at Real Valladolid.

The Andalusians have only scored three goals in 10 games in their first season in the top flight and conceded 16.

Dan Rumens / Reuters