Elche vs Mallorca predictions and match preview for Monday’s LaLiga fixture. Read on for analysis, team news and predicted lineups as two bottom half teams meet.
| Date | Monday 10th October 2022 |
| Kick-Off | 21:00 (local time) |
| Stadium | Martinez Valero |
| Competition | LaLiga |
Elche vs Mallorca Preview
The Monday night game is a huge one for Elche who are in deep trouble already with only 1 point from their opening 7 games. They sacked their coach after defeat last Monday and will be hoping for a response here in what is a vital home game against fellow bottom half opposition in the shape of Mallorca.
Football can be a very cruel game at times and it’s hard not to spare a thought for now former Elche boss Francisco. His side weren’t brilliant by any means in Vallecas last Monday but they did show a bit more and had a glorious chance to secure a potentially season changing win in Stoppage Time which Tete Morente wasted. Only 75 seconds later, Rayo had the ball in the net at the other end thanks to Unai Lopez’s fine strike, a crushing blow for Elche as they sank to yet a 6th defeat in 7 games.
At the time of writing, Elche have not appointed a successor to Francisco, with a number of names in the frame including former Levante boss Paco Lopez. It feels like they could do with getting someone in before this game as the next two are really tough, away at Valencia and home to Real Madrid. It’s early days, but Elche really need to put three points on the board here.
That won’t be easy against a Mallorca side that has made a fairly encouraging start to the campaign. They sit 12th heading into this matchday and will see this match as a good opportunity to put some real distance between themselves and the bottom three. Avoiding a relegation battle altogether will be the objective for Javier Aguirre and his team at this point with Mallorca’s longer term ambitions still to try and firmly establish themselves as a Primera club again after lots of promotions and relegations in recent years.
They were competitive last weekend against Barcelona with the Catalan giants enduring one of their most difficult outings of the season, at least in LaLiga. Despite only having 28% of the ball, Mallorca had more attempts on goal than their illustrious opponents and on another day could have taken a point. This will be a different kind of game against significantly weaker opposition and it’ll be interesting to see how Aguirre alters his approach.
Team News & Possible Lineups
Elche
| INJURED | Alamo |
| DOUBTFUL | Mascarell, Roco, Pastore, Chaves |
| BANNED |
Possible XI: Badia – Clerc, Fernandez, Verdu, Palacios, Lirola – Quina, Guti, Gumbau – Roger, Boye (5-3-2)
Mallorca
| INJURED | Greif, Kadewere, Jaume |
| DOUBTFUL | |
| BANNED |
Possible XI: Rajkovic – Cufre, Copete, Raillo, Valjent, Maffeo – Battaglia, Dani Rodriguez, Galaretta – Muriqi, Kang-in (5-3-2)
Coach: Javier Aguirre
Score Prediction: Elche 1-0 Mallorca
This feels like something of a banana skin game for Mallorca who have risen to the challenge against the top sides this season but are perhaps less suited to taking the initiative in games where they are perceived to be the stronger outfit. Elche did some things better last time out and they are better than we’ve seen this season so far. With home advantage, they could just nick this if they can get a foothold in the game and avoid conceding an early goal which has been a worrying theme at home of late.
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