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

Villarreal will be aiming to return to winning ways in Spain's top flight when they continue their campaign with a home fixture against Elche on Sunday.

The Yellow Submarine are currently fourth in the La Liga table, level on points with third-placed Atletico Madrid, while Elche are 17th, two points outside of the relegation zone.

Match preview

Villarreal ran into a Barcelona side that were in the mood last weekend, with the Catalan outfit recording a 4-1 victory over the Yellow Submarine at Camp Nou, but Marcelino's side will be expecting to bounce back on home soil on Sunday afternoon.

The Yellow Submarine have a record of 16 wins, three draws and seven defeats from their 26 league matches this season, with 51 points leaving them fourth in the table, level on points with third-placed Atletico and eight ahead of Real Betis in fifth.

Marcelino's side have been excellent at home this season, picking up 31 points from their 13 league games in front of their own fans, recording 10 wins in the process.

Villarreal have only actually faced Elche on 22 previous occasions throughout history, and they only just lead the head-to-head eight wins to seven.

Marcelino's side recorded a 3-1 victory in the reverse match between the two sides earlier this season, while they were 4-0 winners in the corresponding game during the 2022-23 season.

Elche did beat Villarreal in February 2023, but they have not managed to overcome the Yellow Submarine on their travels since May 2013, demonstrating the size of their task in this match.

Eder Sarabia's side will enter Sunday's game off the back of a 2-2 draw with Espanyol, with that result following a 2-1 defeat at Athletic Bilbao.

The Green-striped ones, who finished second in the Segunda Division last season to secure promotion back to the top flight, are currently involved in a relegation battle.

Indeed, a record of five wins, 11 draws and 10 defeats from their 26 matches has left them in 17th spot in the table on 26 points, just two points outside of the bottom three.

Elche have actually scored 34 times in La Liga this season, though, which represents an excellent attacking record, and their firepower could be crucial when it comes to the battle for survival.

Villarreal La Liga form:

DWLWWL

Elche La Liga form:

LLLDLD

Team News

Villarreal will again be without the services of Juan Foyth, Pau Cabanes, Logan Costa and Willy Kambwala for this weekend's contest with Elche through injury, while Gerard Moreno faces a late fitness test on a thigh problem.

Head coach Marcelino is expected to resist the temptation to shuffle his pack despite the team's struggles against Barcelona last time out, but there could be a change at left-back, with Alfonso Pedraza potentially being introduced.

Georges Mikautadze is again set to be joined in the final third of the field by Ayoze Perez.

As for Elche, Yago Santiago is still unavailable for selection through suspension, while on-loan Barcelona defender Hector Fort remains out with a shoulder injury.

Pedro Bigas was replaced at the interval of Elche's clash with Espanyol due to a minor issue, so Victor Chust could be introduced into the defence here.

Meanwhile, there should be another start in a wide area for Tete Morente, who was one of Elche's strongest performers in the 2-2 draw with Espanyol.

Villarreal possible starting lineup:

Luiz Junior; Mourino, Navarro, Veiga, Pedraza; Pepe, Comesana, Gueye, Moleiro; Perez, Mikautadze

Elche possible starting lineup:

Dituro; Petrot, Affengruber, Chust, Valera; Morente, Febas, Aguado, Cepeda; A Silva, Mir

We say: Villarreal 2-1 Elche

Elche's attacking threat should equal a goal on Sunday, but we are not expecting them to keep out Villarreal down the other end of the field, and the Yellow Submarine should be able to edge their way to all three points.

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