MADRID, October 18- New coach Gregorio Manzano suffered his first defeat in charge of Sevilla losing 2-0 at Sporting Gijon on Sunday to end the honeymoon period.
Argentine striker Gaston Sangoy put Gijon ahead on six minutes and Diego Castro added another on 51 minutes to leave Sevilla empty-handed.
Manzano started with wins over Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League and Atletico Madrid in the league Sevilla’s second defeat of the season leaves them down in seventh.
Manzano gave Brazilian international forward Luis Fabiano — who has publicly said he wants to leave in January — only his second league start of the season but neither he nor his team-mates could find the back of the net.
Espanyol collected their first away win of the season with a gritty 1-0 win at Real Mallorca on Sunday despite playing over half the match with ten men.
Former Spain international Luis Garcia scored a 31st minute penalty for his side’s first away goal of the campaign and it won the match although Espanyol had to dig deep with Argentine striker Pablo Osvaldo sent off in the 35th minute for a stray elbow.
Espanyol climb up to sixth with their maiden away win while Mallorca fall to tenth following their first home defeat of the season.
"We put in an incredible amount of effort with one man less against a Mallorca team that had turned in a great peformance against Barcelona (a 1-1 draw) last time out," said Espanyol coach Mauricio Pochettino.
Athletic Bilbao go above Mallorca into eighth after a 2-1 home win over 10-man Real Zaragoza at San Mames on Sunday.
Man of the moment Fernando Llorente built on his three goals in Spain’s two Euro 2012 qualfiers with a 23rd minute strike for Bilbao.
Zaragoza were reduced to ten men when Adam Pinter was sent off on 53 mintes and the club sit bottom of the table with no win to their name.
Elsewhere fallen giants Deportivo La Coruna are still searching for their first win of the season after a 0-0 home draw with Osasuna at the Riazor stadium on Sunday.
Depor were Champions League finalists as recently as 2004 and won the Spanish league title in 2000, however, they are currently second from bottom of the table with no win from seven.
In other matches, Levante won the battle of the promoted sides defeating fellow newcomers Real Sociedad 2-1 on Sunday for their second win of the season.
Levante scored twice in six minutes with former Chelsea man Asier del Horno opening the scoring after 59 minutes before Ecuadorian striker Felipe Caicedo, on loan from Manchester City, struck on 65 minutes.
On Monday Villarreal have the chance to go top of the table for the first time in their history if they can record a sixth consecutive league win at promoted Hercules.
"It would be nice to be leaders but it can’t be an obsession," said Villarreal defender Joan Capdevila.
"Hercules were capable of winning at Camp Nou (against Barcelona) and that shows they are a team to watch out for."
Villarreal lie two points behind leaders Real Madrid who crushed Malaga 4-1 on Saturday to replace Valencia at the summit.
Valencia lost 2-1 at champions Barcelona on Saturday and the two teams are locked in second place on 16 points, one point behind Real.
