Elche vs Almeria Match Analysis and Prediction

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Elche and Almeria will both be looking for their first points of the 2022-23 La Liga season when they meet in the second round of league fixtures on Monday.

The hosts suffered defeat at the hands of Real Betis on the opening day, while the vistors lost to defending champions Real Madrid on their return to Spain’s top flight.

Having narrowly avoided relegation back to the Spain’s second tier in the 2020-21 season, Elche enjoyed a more impressive campaign for the most part last season, beating the previous points tally by six and finishing 13th.

However, they did have a late scare, dropping close to the bottom three following three successive defeats, but a 3-1 win over Getafe on the final day saw them end four points clear of the relegation zone and head towards a third consecutive season in La Liga.

Los Franjiverdes kicked off the new season with a tough test against Real Betis, and they failed to get off the mark, eventually losing 3-0 having been reduced to 10 men inside the first 20 minutes, as John Nwankwo was sent off.

Meawhile, Almeria make the trip off the back of a narrow opening-day defeat, after earning promotion back to the top flight last season.

In their seventh successive camapign in the Segunda Division, Rubi’s side set out to finally return to La Liga and succeeded, eventually securing the league title as they collected 81 points from their 42 matches.

The Rojiblancos were handed an unimpressive start to the new season, as they hosted defending champions Real Madrid on the opening day, eventually lsing after an impressive effort.

Largie Ramazani gave his side the lead in the sixth minute and Almeria would stay ahead until the hour mark, only for Lucas Vazquez and David Alaba to turn the game around.

Elche vs Almeria head to head

The two teams have previously met on 31 occasions across all competitions, where Elche have claimed nine victories while Almeria have won 13, and they have drawn in nine. Almeria have scored 46 goals and conceded 41. In their last five meetings, Almeria have won one, Elche two with two draws.

Elche 2-2 Almeria 22/12/18

Almeria 5-3 Elche 12/05/22

Elche 1-1 Almeria 16/11/19

Almeria 0-2 Elche 26/01/20

Almeria 1-2 Elche 06/01/22

Elche latest home form

Elche have recently failed to keep a good run of form at home, as they have won just two of their six most recent matches. They lost 1-0 to Ibiza in their last home game in a friendly. In their last five matches, they have scored six goals and conceded eight.

Elche 0-2 Atletico Madrid 11/05/22

Elche 3-1 Getafe 22/05/22

Elche 1-3 Villarreal II 20/07/22

Elche 2-1 Leganes 23/07/22

Elche 0-1 Ibiza 02/08/22

Elche latest away form

Elche have recently failed to keep a good run of form on the road, having won just two of their six most recent matches. They lost 3-0 to Real Betis in their last away game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored four goals and conceded six.

Celta Vigo 1-0 Elche 15/05/22

Getafe 0-1 Elche 27/07/22

FC Cartagena 2-0 Elche 30/0722

La Nucia 0-3 Elche 07/08/22

Real Betis 3-0 Elche 15/08/22

Almeria latest home form

Almeria have recently failed to keep a good run of form at home, having won just two of their five most recent matches. They lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in their last home game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored five goals and also conceded five.

Almeria 1-1 Alcorcon 21/05/22

Almeria 1-0 Velez 17/07/22

Almeria 1-2 Cordoba 23/07/22

Almeria 1-0 FC Cartagena 05/08/22

Almeria 1-2 Real Madrid 14/08/22

Almeria latest away form

Almeria lost 3-2 to Granada in their last away game in a friendly. However, they have recently been on a good run of form on the road, as they have been unbeaten in their previous seven matches. In their last five matches, they have scored 11 goals and conceded seven.

Burgos 0-2 Almeria 30/04/22

Real Sociedad B 0-2 Almeria 13/05/22

Leganes 2-2 Almeria 29/05/22

San Fernando CD 2-3 Almeria 24/07/22

Granada 3-2 Almeria 30/07/22

Elche news

Elche will take to the pitch without defender John Nwankwo, who will serve a suspension after being shown a red card in their opening-day defeat to Real Betis.

Key men like Lucas Boye, Gonzalo Verdu and Javier Pastore are all doubts, having missed last week’s game after picking up injuries in pre-season.

Almeria news

Juanjo Nieto and Ivan Martos remain out of action for Almeria due to injuries, but Rubi will otherwise have a full squad to pick from.

The visitors’ attack will again be led by Umar Sadiq, who helped to fire them to promotion from Segunda Division with 18 league goals last season.

Prediction and Odds

Almeria were certainly the more impressive of the two sides in their opening-day matches, but Elche will be keen to avoid a second straight defeat, particularly at home to a newly-promoted side.

We expect the visitors to come all guns firing but they are likely to be forced to settle for a draw.

Odds: 1 2.28 X 2.05 2 2.20