Two of La Liga's most out-of-form sides will face off at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero on Monday, as Elche host Getafe in this relegation six-pointer.
Elche, who have struggled on their return to La Liga, could potentially leapfrog Getafe in the table if they find a way to end their dire run of 10 league games without a win.
Originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon, this tie was postponed for 24 hours due to poor weather conditions.
Match preview
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For Getafe boss Jose Bordalas, this strange season has been something of a prolonged existential nightmare following his good run of league finishes in previous campaigns.
El Geta are currently 16th in the table, just one point off the relegation zone, and have won just one game in 11 league matches.
Adding insult to injury for Bordalas, his side were eliminated from the Copa del Rey earlier this week following their shock 1-0 defeat to Cordoba.
Still, thankfully for El Geta, they line up on Monday against one of the only sides that, on paper, are playing even worse than them.
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Elche have really struggled to hit the ground running this season and are currently in the midst of their worst top-flight winless streak in the 21st century.
However, Elche boss Jorge Almiron can still take solace from the fact that his side progressed to the next round of the cup in midweek, having comfortably beaten local Valencian outfit La Nucia.
Almiron favourite Lucas Boye was the man of the hour in that contest and the Los Franjiverdes boss will hope that the 24-year-old Argentine striker will have the confidence to bag another on Monday.
Fortunately for Elche fans, one of the only teams with a worse attack than them in the league is Getafe, who have found the back of the net just 12 times this season.
Elche La Liga form: DLLDDL
Elche form (all competitions): WLDDLW
Getafe La Liga form: LLWDLL
Getafe form (all competitions): WWDLLL
Team News
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Bordalas has sought a quick fix to his side's woes by delving into the January transfer market. Barcelona youngster Carles Alena has been brought in on loan and could feature in this game.
Cucho Hernandez will be unavailable for this tie due to suspension, while Dario Poveda and Victor Mollejo are also both not expected to feature due to injury.
Almiron, on the other hand, will be without the likes of Tete Morente and Diego Gonzalez due to minor injuries.
Omenuke Mfulu also remains out injured.
Elche possible starting lineup:
Badia; Barragan, Gonzalo, Josema, Sanchez Mino; Josan, Marcone, Guti, Fidel, Pere Milla; Boye
Getafe possible starting lineup:
Yanez; Suarez, Cabaco, Djene, Olivera; Nyom, Arambarri, Maksimovic, Cucurella; Angel, Mata
We say: Elche 1-0 Getafe
If both sides offer a bit more going forward than they have in recent weeks, we could have a real relegation dogfight on our hands. However, that might be wishful thinking. We are going for a narrow 1-0 for the home side.
Top betting 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 Getafe win with a probability of 52.3%. A draw had a probability of 26.5% and a win for Elche had a probability of 21.23%.
The most likely scoreline for a Getafe win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.81%) and 1-2 (9.01%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.22%), while for a Elche win it was 1-0 (8.28%). The actual scoreline of 1-3 was predicted with a 4.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Getafe would win this match.
