Winless in 16 consecutive league games, new Elche boss Fran Escriba will hope to make an instant impact at the club with a win over fellow strugglers Eibar at the Estadio Martinez Valero on Saturday.
Jose Luis Mendilibar's embattled Eibar side face their third relegation six-pointer in as many La Liga outings on Saturday. Los Armeros have picked up just two points from their last six league games.
Match preview
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Times are changing at Elche, and fans will hope the team will experience something of a new manager bounce this weekend.
Former Elche boss Jorge Almiron announced his resignation following the team's 3-1 loss to Celta Vigo last time out.
"I've taken the decision to leave, I wish my players all the best," Almiron told reporters. "They gave everything in the match but unfortunately things didn't go our way."
Escriba has arrived at Elche with one objective firmly in mind - to save the club from relegation. "My only thought is that we don't get relegated," he told the press this week. "I don't want to think about next season in any way."
Against Eibar this weekend, Escriba faces the very real possibility of seeing his side fail to win their 17th league game on the bounce. The last time Elche failed to win 17 or more in a row in a single top-flight campaign was in 1970-71.
If recent history is anything to go by, Elche have the upper hand coming into this tie; the club beat Eibar 1-0 earlier this season, and if Escriba plays his cards right, they could repeat that feat this weekend.
Three points for Elche, who are currently 19th in the standings, could see them haul themselves out of the relegation zone.
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Seventeenth-placed Eibar have picked up just two points from their last six games, meaning Mendilibar will be walking on particularly thin ice on Saturday.
Eibar, who only managed to pick up one point from must-win games against relegation rivals Osasuna and Real Valladolid in recent weeks, are desperately in need of a win coming into this tie.
Fortunately for Eibar, the team have proven to be a lot more effective away from home this season. Thirteen of Eibar's 21 points have come from games on the road and Mendilibar will hope his side can find more fortune on their travels this weekend.
Against Valladolid last time out, Mendilibar's men were lucky to come away from the tie with one point to show for their efforts. A 1-1 draw perfectly reflected the lacklustre nature of the contest.
Kike Garcia, who came to his side's rescue against Valladolid, has scored seven goals in 22 appearances so far this season and a goal this weekend could see him equal his best tally in a single season in La Liga.
Elche La Liga form: LDLLDL
Elche form (all competitions): LDLLDL
Eibar La Liga form: LLDLLD
Eibar form (all competitions): LLDLLD
Team News
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Escriba will be without a number of squad players for his first game back in charge of the club.
Fidel, Nino, Jony and Gerard Barri are all out injured this weekend.
Mendilibar has been largely fortunate in regard to absentees this season and this tie will be no different.
Rober and Kevin Rodrigues remain out with muscular injuries.
Elche possible starting lineup:
Badia; Angel, Gonzalo, Gonzalez, Mojica; Josan Fernandez, Guti, Marcone, Rigoni; Carrillo, Boye
Eibar possible starting lineup:
Dmitrovic; Pozo, Oliveira, Arbilla, Rafa; Inui, Diop, Exposito, Gil; Enrich, Kike
We say: Elche 1-1 Eibar
What we have here is a relegation dogfight between both of La Liga's most out-of-form outfits. Desperation always tends to play a big part in these types of fixtures, but we do not think anything will separate the two sides.
Top tip
Francis Buchanan
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Eibar win with a probability of 58.92%. A draw had a probability of 23.8% and a win for Elche had a probability of 17.26%.
The most likely scoreline for a Eibar win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.07%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.94%) and 1-2 (9.47%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.16%), while for a Elche win it was 1-0 (6.58%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood.
