Good evening and welcome to Eurosport's LIVE coverage of the Liga clash between Real Madrid and Villarreal. We'll bring you all the action and goals as they go in at the Santiago Bernabeu. Kick-off: 19:00.

Real Madrid are the form team in La Liga at the moment. It wasn't that long ago that they were trailing Barcelona and Atletico Madrid by five points but they've taken 32 out of the last 36 points on offer. They can go top tonight.

After starting the game relatively well Villarreal have had the stuffing knocked out them. Garcia is on the touchline trying to encourage his players and move them up the field.

Costa just can't deal with Bale at the moment. Having said that, not sure there are many defenders who could deal with the Welsh winger when he's playing like this.

Another good chance! Bale sprints to the byline before cutting back for Benzema. The French striker is tackled by Dorado but the ball falls to Modric eight yards out. However, Mario throws himself in front of the shot to block.

Bale has started very well indeed! He is tormenting Costa on the right wing. He looks fit and ready to go. Wouldn't be surprised if he adds a couple more to the scoresheet tonight.

Big chance for Villarreal to hit back immediately! Giovani gets to the byline and squares the ball back into the box, where Pereira has lost his marker. But the striker leans back and scoops his shot well over!

GOAL! Real Madrid 1 (7 mins - Gareth Bale) Villarreal 0. Huge mistake by Dorado and Bales knicks in to surge through on goal and chip over Asenjo in the Villarreal goal. What an error! Good finish though.

Of course this is the first of Cristiano Ronaldo's three game ban, after he was shown red in the draw with Athletic Bilbao last week. Bale's return from injury is a timely one and Jese is in good form so Ancelotti still has plenty of options.

There has been quite a few slack passes from both sides in these opening five minutes or so but there's a good tempo to the contest and it's also quite open. Bodes well for the rest of the game.

First sight of the goal for the home side, but after cutting inside off a short corner he fires a wild shot well over the bar. He should have done better from there, but I suppose he's just finding his range.

Real Madrid have the chance to go top of the table on goal difference tonight (until Atletico kick-off at 9pm at least) but this is also an opportunity for Villarreal to sneak into the Champions League places.

We're under way at the Bernabeu!

TEAM NEWS: Real Madrid - Lopez, Carvajal, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo, Illarramendi, Modric, Di Maria, Bale, Benzema, Jese. /// Villarreal - Asenjo, Mario, Musacchio, Dorado, Costa, Aquino, Edu Ramos, Bruno, Gomez, Pereira, Giovani.

I'm Graham Ruthven and you can contact me on Twitter ahead of the game. Are Real Madrid now favourites for the league title? Can Villarreal cause them problems tonight? Tweet me (@grahamruthven)!