Good afternoon, and welcome to our live coverage of the La Liga game between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad. Second hosts seventh in today's early fixture.

If you listen closely, you'll hear the sound of two teams purring into form. Sociedad seem to have got over a horrid start to the season in which they won one of their first eight - they've now won three of their last four La Liga games, and thrashed Osasuna 5-0 last week. Real Madrid, meanwhile, outdid Seville by an improbable 7-3 in their last home game, and were happy to come away from Real Vallecano with a 3-2 victory last week - although their hosts made them sweat for it.

Carlo Ancelotti is taking nothing for granted: “Real Sociedad is a good team with a good attitude. They’re very dynamic and have fast players. It won’t be an easy match. They already proved against Manchester United that they can play major games and it’s a really good test for us because we need to play well and with intensity”. You'd think Sociedad will need to show a little more than they did on Tuesday night, though.

Thrillseekers may have come to the right place this afternoon. The last three meetings between these two at the Bernabeu have yielded 18 goals. Last season, Real Madrid won 4-3 despite being down to ten men from the sixth minute. The previous two years' fixtures saw 5-1 and 4-1 victories for the home side.

So that's Diego Lopez, Dani Carvajal and Alvaro Arbeloa in for Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo, all of whom completed 90 minutes for Real Madrid against Juventus on Tuesday night. For Real Sociedad, Gorka Elustondo, Jose Angel, Xabi Prieto and Haris Seferovic come in for Alberto De la Bella, David Zurutuza, Imanol Agiorretxe and Ruben Pardo.

TEAMS: Real Madrid: Diego Lopez, Carvajal, Pepe, Varane, Arbeloa, Alonso, Khedira, Modric, Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema... Subs: Casillas, Nacho, Jese, Morata, Di Maria, Isco, Illarramendi. /// Real Sociedad: Bravo, Martinez, Jose Angel, Elustondo, Gonzalez, Inigo Martinez, Vela, Bergara, Griezmann, Xabi Prieto, Seferovic... Subs: Agirretxe, Zubikari, Ansotegi, Zurutuza, Castro, Javi Ros, De la Bella.

Three changes for Real Madrid this afternoon. Full team news coming up...