Julen Lopetegui continued to repair his reputation in the dugout by guiding Sevilla to a third win in four matches in La Liga this season.

Lopetegui, who was sacked last October after a brief and ill-fated spell in charge of Real Madrid, saw his new team win 1-0 in Alaves, courtesy of another goal from the impressive Joan Jordan.

Real Betis ended Sunday battling to earn a point at home to Getafe after holding midfielder William Carvalho was sent off when the video assistant referee determined his booking should merit a red card. Jaime Mata had already given Getafe the lead from the penalty spot, but Joaquin hit back from 12 yards for the hosts in the second half.

Earlier, Facundo Ferreyra scored his first league goal in an Espanyol shirt to help David Gallego's team win for the first time this season. Ferreyra's finish moved the Periquitos out of the bottom three despite centre-back Naldo being sent off in stoppage time.

Red cards were a common sight for Celta Vigo at Balaidos, with Jorge Saenz and the disappointing Fran Beltran both dismissed inside the first 30 minutes. A Granada team defying expectations took full advantage thanks to goals from German Sanchez Barahona and Yangel Herrera.

Meanwhile, Osasuna are ninth after Robert Ibanez found an equaliser to answer Pablo Hervias' brilliant free-kick for Real Valladolid.

Winner: Julen Lopetegui

You could forgive Lopetegui for wishing he'd worked at Sevilla before courting the job with Real. Doing the latter earned him the boot from Spain's national team just prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

He was hardly rewarded in the capital when the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus, coupled with the waning skills of other key players, ensured keeping Los Blancos at the top was an impossible task.

However, Lopetegui is proving a tough few months with Real wasn't a true reflection of his ability as a manager. Instead, the former Porto chief has Sevilla clicking at the summit.

The team is playing an enterprising brand of football and also showing a knack for grinding out results. It was a grind in Alaves, even after Jordan found the top corner eight minutes before the break.

The midfielder is flourishing on Lopetegui's watch, having found the net twice in four matches.

Signed from Eibar for €14 million in the summer, Jordan is the product of the type of astute bargain hunting Sevilla have turned into an art form. Having Monchi back as sporting director has ensured one of the smartest clubs on the continent continues to be well run.

The structure is helping Lopetegui simply focus on coaching, and the results show the benefit.

Winner: Granada Away Form

Usually Granada would fear facing Barcelona because of the likes of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi. However, the biggest reason Diego Martinez may be wary of next Saturday's game is because it's on home soil.

His team has been lethal on its travels since returning to Spain's top flight for this season. Winning in Celta made it seven points from a possible nine:

In fairness, Balaidos has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Granada. Even so, Sunday's victory owed as much to a slick and smart style of play as it did to the dismissals of Saenz and Beltran:

Granada may not last long in the heady heights of sixth in the table, but this team has already proved it can punch within its weight among the country's big boys.

Loser: Fran Beltran

It hasn't been a good start to the season for Beltran, at least at club level. The 20-year-old spent most of the 2018/19 campaign being touted as a budding "midfield maestro."

Yet there was nothing maestro-like about the reckless challenge that led to Beltran being red-carded against Granada:

The red card represents the only tangible tally for a player who has yet to register a goal or an assist this season. It's hardly the return Celta expect from a player who has been given the keys to the engine room.

You could forgive Beltran for thinking this has put a damper on his start to September, after the young schemer represented Spain at under-21 level recently:

Beltran has a lot to do to prove his early potential won't be a false dawn.

Loser: William Carvalho

If Celta have been counting on Beltran's precocious talent for inspiration, Betis would surely have expected more discipline from a player as experienced as Carvalho. The 27-year-old former Sporting CP enforcer needs to be a leader in the middle after Giovani Lo Celso was loaned to Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

Instead, Carvalho picked up a red card that severely hampered Betis' chances of taking all three points from a winnable fixture at home to fellow strugglers. The incident occurred with 25 minutes on the clock after VAR examined Carvalho's challenge on Mauro Arambarri and determined a yellow card wasn't enough.

Dropping two more points has left Betis with just one win and four points from as many games.

Ideally, Carvalho would provide the defensive nous, precision tackling and efficient distribution to balance a midfield expected to flow through the flair of summer import Nabil Fekir. Until said balance is achieved, a talented Betis squad will continue to play below expectations.