Valencia striker David Villa believes his club will still be in the league title mix come the end of the season.

The Spanish international was reacting to claims that the La Liga title would once again be a two-horse race between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

After nine games of the season the traditional rivals are first and second in the league and a small gap is developing over the other teams - but this is not cause for concern according to Villa.

Speaking to Marca the striker commented "The league champion isn't decided by January".

However, he did concede that both sides are "pretty strong" and that talk of a crisis at both clubs is due to other people "always looking to create them".

Villa added that the league title would be decided in "the last month and a half" and that los Che would "keep working as they have done during the last four weeks and go game by game" in order to keep pace with the top two.

"If we are well positioned in this last month and a half and have a chance to win the league, we will have a great chance of being in the Champions League," he concluded.

Valencia currently occupy fourth place in La Liga - five points adrift of leaders Barcelona - and host Real Zaragoza this weekend.