. Valencia maintained their pursuit of Barcelona to remain four points off the La Liga leaders thanks to second-half goals from Geoffrey Kondogbia and Santi Mina to beat a luckless Espanyol 2-0 on Sunday.

A club record eighth straight La Liga win for Valencia moves Marcelino Garcia Toral's men six points clear of Real Madrid in third and sets up a mouthwatering top of the table showdown at home to Barcelona next Sunday.

"We want to beat Barcelona to be as high in the table as we can, but we still can't talk about being candidates to win the title yet," insisted Valencia assistant coach Ruben Uria, who faced the media after Marcelino was sent to the stands in the second half.

However, the visitors had fortune on their side as Espanyol dominated for large spells and hit the woodwork twice.

"In the first half they got the better of us, but the team knew how to resist, stay compact, suffer and compete," Mina told BeIN Sports Spain.

"The big teams also win like this. The important thing was to win."