This article is part of Football FanCast's The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

La Liga is finally returning this weekend and Real Madrid will be travelling away to Mallorca for matchday nine. Even though every point matters, Zinedine Zidane should consider rotating his squad a bit considering the tough schedule ahead.

On the chalkboard

Currently, Los Blancos are sitting top of the table in La Liga and are two points ahead of their arch-rivals, Barcelona, and three points ahead of city rivals Atletico Madrid.

For the time being, things are under control but football is unpredictable and everything can change in an instant.

Watch Spanish Football Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

With that being said, however, it would be wise of Zidane to actually try and look ahead and towards the end of the month.

Real have a midweek Champions League fixture and will then travel to the Camp Nou for the El Clasico the weekend after this one.

For that reason, rotating the squad for the trip to Mallorca could be a viable and recommendable option.

Planning ahead

If Zidane were to deploy a somewhat weakened lineup this Saturday, it still shouldn't be seen as a form of disrespect.

Mallorca are, however, a newly promoted team that are currently sitting third from the bottom of the La Liga table and have only two wins to their names so far in the new campaign.

Watch Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale answer the internet's weirdest questions in the video below...

Not to mention that prioritising and picking your battles is essential if you want to compete on all fronts.

Real Madrid still don't have a win under their belts in the Champions League and winning against Barcelona next weekend is definitely a must for Los Blancos.

For that reason, this is the perfect opportunity to give some other players a chance, and also rest and preserve the key pieces of the puzzle for the tough schedule ahead.

In the worst-case scenario, points will be dropped against Mallorca but the team will still be fresh to tackle the bigger fish shortly after that.

And besides, Zidane has enough quality and depth on his bench to be able to get all three points on Saturday regardless of the lineup he deploys.