The Argentina international reached nine league goals for the season with his first half double before Angel Correa steered home the third late on.

The victory at Mestalla took the Rojiblancos two points clear of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The Catalans visit Las Palmas later Saturday while champions Real Madrid host Girona on Sunday.

"I'm very happy, it was important to win here to stay in the title fight," Alvarez told Movistar.

"It wasn't an easy game, we knew it, they'd been doing well at home, so we had to go for it and getting three points is very good.

"We're still in the fight, right now we're leaders but there are still a lot of games to go and we have to go slowly, with humility and hard work like always."

Valencia had won three in a row at home but defeat leaves them 18th, embedded in a fierce relegation battle.

"After a first half in which they were better, we reacted in the second, we had a lot of chances to cut the gap but in the end we lost the ball and they got the third," said Valencia captain Jose Gaya.

"In the second half the team competed and played a lot better... we have to adjust things and keep improving."

Atletico started strongly and former Manchester City striker Alvarez opened the scoring in the 12th minute.

Samuel Lino hit the bar after receiving Antoine Griezmann's delicious cross, and Alvarez was on hand to fire home after the resulting scramble in the box.

Griezmann directly created Alvarez's second goal with another fine cross which the forward nodded home.

Umar Sadiq headed Valencia's only chance of the first half off-target as Carlos Corberan's side struggled to get going.

Alvarez should have completed his hat-trick before the break but fired narrowly wide after breaking through one-on-one.

Valencia came out far stronger in the second half and began to test Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak, although the visitors had enough resolve to keep Los Che at bay.

Atletico extended their lead in the final stages when substitutes Conor Gallagher and Correa combined on the counter, with the latter stroking home.

Villarreal, fifth, kept the pressure on the top four with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Rayo Vallecano.

Ayoze Perez's 66th minute goal separated the two sides, with sixth-place Rayo playing the second half with 10 men after Jorge de Frutos was sent off before the break.