Elche – Real Madrid : Preview & Prediction
Since Francisco’s departure, Elche has picked up two draws, but the franjiverde side is still without a win in the current LaLiga Santander (LL) championship, being one of the three teams with a clean sheet this season in the five big leagues in Europe. The Elche squad has signed its worst numbers in the first nine games of a LL campaign (E3, P6), and Jorge Almirón has the complicated mission of getting out of the bottom of the table in his second stint at the Martínez Valero, which began by earning a valuable point at Mestalla on Saturday (2-2).
More than forty-four years have passed since Elche’s last league win over Real Madrid (March 1978 – E2, P10 since then), but a repeat of their last result against Los Blancos (2-2) would not be a bad thing at all for the franjiverdes, although in that match they let a historic victory slip away by conceding two goals beyond the 80th minute.
Leading by three points after winning the clásico (3-1) without too much difficulty, Real Madrid are now the only unbeaten team in the current championship (G8, E1, +14). Carlo Ancelotti pointed to the first-half performance – in which new Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema opened the scoring in the 12th minute – as key to the win over the eternal rivals, and another early Madrid lead would come as no surprise: in three of their last four LL matches, Los Blancos have broken a 0-0 start in the first 20 minutes.
Madrid have been unerring so far away from home, winning five of five league outings for the first time since 1991-92, a season in which they nevertheless finished second behind Barcelona. Los Blancos average 2.4 goals scored away in LL 2022-23, a notably higher average than the 1.83 goals they have averaged on their LL visits to Elche since their last away league loss to Los Franjiverdes (G5, E1).
Players to watch: Five of Pere Milla’s last six LL goals – including one of his brace against Valencia last term – have come in second halves, while Fede Valverde was on target in the Clasico, scoring his third consecutive LL goal between the 30th minute and halftime.
Key statistic: at the start of matchday 10, Elche have the highest number of cards of any color (39: 36 yellow, three red) in LL 2022-23.
Elche – Real Madrid : Betting Tips
Real Madrid – Win Odds: 1.35
