Lucas Ocampos opened the scoring with a 41st-minute penalty that was awarded, via VAR, for a handball by Alejandro Pozo, and Youssef En-Nesyri added a second in the 84th minute.

A fourth successive LaLiga win for Julen Lopetegui's fourth-placed men leaves them level on points with third-placed Atletico Madrid and nine clear of Villarreal in fifth, who host Real Sociedad on Monday.

"We knew this was a key match for us," Sevilla midfielder Fernando said. "This victory leaves us very close to achieving our goal."

Mallorca, meanwhile, dropped to second from bottom in the table and are three points adrift of safety.

They have switched positions with Leganes, who boosted their survival hopes by beating Valencia 1-0 at home courtesy of an 18th-minute Ruben Perez penalty.

Having managed to see out the win despite being reduced to 10 men by a red card for Jonathan Silva early in the second half, Javier Aguirre's side are also three points behind 17th-placed Alaves, who are another side in action on Monday when they host Getafe.

Eibar won 2-0 at already-relegated basement boys Espanyol and are now guaranteed survival, lying seven points clear of the drop zone in 15th place.

Edu Exposito notched a first-half brace, scoring one penalty in the 25th minute and then seeing another saved by Diego Lopez but netting on the follow-up.

Valencia's chances of making the Europa League next season took a hit after relegation-threatened Leganes won their second match in three games.

The club from southern Madrid moved to 18th, three points from safety entering the final stretch of games.

Real Madrid visit midtable Granada on Monday looking to reopen a four-point lead on second-place Barcelona and move closer to their first Spanish league title in three years.

Zinedine Zidane's team would then need another victory - or two draws - from their final two matches to clinch the title.

Meanwhile, Cadiz were promoted to La Liga for the first time since 2005 after Real Zaragoza were beaten 4-2 at home to Real Oviedo in Spain's second division on Sunday.

Cadiz had missed the chance to seal promotion on Saturday as they lost 1-0 at home to Fuenlabrada in an empty stadium after thousands of fans had gathered outside their ground before the game, defying social distancing recommendations.

But struggling Oviedo did the job for them, running into a four-goal lead before the home side struck twice in stoppage time.

Australian Associated Press