Preview: Elche vs Mallorca - prediction, team news, lineups

Mallorca will be aiming to make it successive wins in Spain's top flight when they continue their domestic campaign at home to Elche on Saturday afternoon.

The hosts are currently 16th in the La Liga table, two points ahead of 18th-placed Elche, demonstrating the importance of this weekend's clash at Estadi Mallorca Son Moix.

Match preview

Elche will enter Saturday's match off the back of a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid, and they have only managed to pick up one point from their last four matches, with that disappointing run of form leaving them down in 18th spot in the division.

The Green-striped ones have not been victorious since their final match of 2025 against Rayo Vallecano, while they have lost six of their last eight in the league.

Eder Sarabia's side are only two points behind 17th-placed Alaves, and there is still plenty of football to be played before the end of the season, but their struggles in 2026 are a concern.

Elche have only actually lost two of their 14 league games in front of their own fans, though, so they will be pleased to be back on home soil in this match.

Mallorca, meanwhile, have only managed to pick up six points from their 14 games on their travels, which is the second-worst away record behind Elche.

The visitors will enter this match off the back of a much-needed win, though, beating Espanyol 2-1 on March 15, and that proved to be their first success since the start of February.

There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a tough campaign for Mallorca, with a record of seven wins, seven draws and 14 defeats from 28 matches leaving them down in 16th spot in the division on 28 points, two points outside of the relegation zone.

Martin Demichelis' side have conceded 45 times in La Liga this season, which is among the worst records in the division, while they have actually been outscored by Elche 36 to 33.

Mallorca also trail Elche in the overall head-to-head record between the two sides, with the latter winning 14 times to the former's 12 in their previous 41 matches.

Earlier this season, though, Mallorca recorded a 3-1 victory, which proved to be their first success over Elche since November 2017.

Elche La Liga form:

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Mallorca La Liga form:

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Team News

Elche will once again be without the services of on-loan Barcelona defender Hector Fort due to a shoulder injury, while John Donald remains a doubt due to a muscular problem.

The hosts are expected to make changes to the side that took to the field for the first whistle against Real Madrid last time out, and one of those could occur in the final third of the field, with Rafa Mir potentially being brought back into the XI.

An introduction for Mir would likely see Martim Neto drop into a deeper position.

As for Mallorca, Jan Salas and Takuma Asano will definitely be missing through injury, while Marash Kumbulla, Abdon Prats and Lucas Bergstrom are major doubts.

The visitors will also definitely be without the services of both Jan Virgili and Johan Mojica through suspensions, so it could be seven first-team absentees for the Pirates.

Mallorca's line will once again be led by Vedat Muriqi, though, with the 31-year-old bidding to add to the 18 La Liga goals that he has scored during an impressive campaign.

Elche possible starting lineup:

Dituro; Chust, Affengruber, Bigas; Sangare, Neto, Febas, Aguado, Valera; Mir, Silva

Mallorca possible starting lineup:

Roman; Maffeo, Raillo, Valjent, Lato; Morlanes, Costa, Mascarell; Torre; Muriqi, Joseph

We say: Elche 1-1 Mallorca

Elche have lost just twice at home this season, while Mallorca have been incredibly poor on their travels, so we are finding it tough to back an away win. In truth, it is difficult to back either with any real confidence, so we have had to settle on a low-scoring draw here.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.