Solid Valencia moved up to second in the Spanish Liga on Sunday with an efficient 3-1 win at east coast rivals Villarreal, with two set-piece goals in the second half from German defender Shkodran Mustafi.
Valencia went ahead in the seventh minute when Villarreal midfielder Manu Trigueros clumsily turned a centre from Sofiane Feghouli into his own goal.
Trigueros partially made amends by pulling a late goal back for the hosts, but by then their defeat was sealed from Mustafi's double.
"It was a bittersweet match for me, and for the team," Trigueros said. "We did not play badly at all, but we were not very lethal in front of goal, it has to be said."
The defeat left Villarreal in eight place.
Valencia only had three shots on goal, but were ruthless in both penalty areas.
"This was an important win for us, against a good team," Valencia striker Paco Alcacer said.
"Everything is going well for us at the moment. We are also having a little bit of good luck, as happened with the first goal today. But you have to work hard to get that kind of luck, I think."
Despite the absence of injured captain Dani Parejo, Valencia are making their best start since their glory days of 11 years ago.
They are just one point behind new leaders Real Madrid, level on 23 with Atletico Madrid. Both are one point ahead of troubled Barcelona and also of Sevilla, who crashed 1-0 at resurgent Athletic Bilbao earlier Sunday.
A win in Bilbao would have left Sevilla alone on top, but they turned in their dullest display of the season and suffered their second defeat when Bilbao veteran striker Aritz Aduriz volleyed in a precise centre from Markel Susaeta in the 13th.
"Maybe our level of motivation was so high that at times it led to anxiety and a lack of control," Sevilla coach Unai Emery said.
"We were very excited at the prospect of going top today, but we were not in control of the match. Also, we were playing against very demanding opponents."
Denis Suarez and Carlos Bacca came close to equalising for Sevilla, but the Bilbao defence managed to hold out for a win that took them up to 11th.
"These three points are very important for us. We just had to win today, in order to move above the zone of danger," Bilbao boss Ernesto Valverde said.
Elsewhere, Levante beat fellow strugglers Almeria 2-1 on goals from David Barral and Victor. Levante's first home win took them up to third from bottom, above Real Sociedad and Cordoba.
"We wanted to give the fans something to celebrate today. They have always been very helpful to us, but this season - until today - we had given them nothing but disappointments."
Almeria are 14th and probably facing their annual relegation struggle.
Elche are fourth bottom with a 2-1 home defeat of midtable Espanyol, with a brace from promising striker Cristian Jonathas.
he 10th round of matches will finish Monday with Rayo Vallecano at home to Eibar./p>
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