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Recommended bets
[RECOMMENDED_BETS]
Barcelona have won their last seven meetings with Elche, scoring 26 and conceding two. Both goals Elche have scored against Barça this century came in the reverse fixture, a 3-2 defeat at Camp Nou.
Barcelona to win and over 2.5 goals is 21/20.
Barcelona to win and both teams to score NO is 7/5.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored against 97 different clubs in his career and is 3/1 to break the deadlock and 4/5 to add Elhe to that list.
Match preview
¡Barcelona are back!
Last Sunday night, the Blaugrana demolished Athletic Club 4-0 at Camp Nou in a statement victory.
The French winger first scored a thunderbolt before setting up fellow substitutes Luuk de Jong and then Memphis who secured an emphatic victory.
This means Xavi’s side have scored four in three successive games, having also won away at Valencia and Napoli earlier in the week, 4-1 and then 4-2.
So, in La Liga, Barça remain fourth but with Atlético Madrid, Real Sociedad and Villarreal all in red hot pursuit.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are looking to win the UEFA Cup/Europa League for the very first time.
Having dispatched Napoli, they’ll now meet Galatasaray in the round of 16 with the first leg in Catalonia this forthcoming Thursday.
Before then, will Barça’s winning run continue?
Elche meanwhile are enjoying the security that comes with being comfortably mid-table.
Los Franjiverdes though were hammered 3-0 by bottom of the table Levante last Friday; Gerard Gumbau sent off on a miserable night in Valencia.
Nevertheless, since Franciso took over in late-November, Elche have won five of 11 La Liga games so start the weekend 13th, eight clear of trouble.
Can the hosts spring a surprise at Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero?
Elche team news
Francisco is obviously without Gerard Gumbau after his red card nine days ago.
So, Raúl Guti is likely to return in midfield.
In better news, top-scorer Lucas Boyé is back after a short, recent spell injured.
So, he will start, probably alongside Guido Carrillo, with Ezequiel Ponce and Pere Milla the other options.
Barcelona team news
Xavi meanwhile has enjoyed a free week, something that’ll become pretty much extinct if they reach the Europa League semi-finals or beyond.
At the back, Barça are still without Samuel Umtiti but Óscar Mingueza and Clément Lenglet are both back after recent spells on the sidelines.
Dani Alves is likely to continue at right-back and, if Jordi Alba is fit again, he’ll return on the left with Sergiño Dest making way.
In midfield, given that Gavi is suspended for Thursday’s match with Galatasaray, he’ll surely be in the XI for this one.
He, fellow teenager Pedri and the rather more experienced Sergio Busquets were the midfield trio against Athletic Club a week ago.
This could be the case again, although Frenkie de Jong will hope that is not the case.
In attack is where Barça have an even greater embarrassment of riches.
After his majestic cameo a week ago, Ousmane Dembélé might have done enough to start alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traoré.
Ferran Torres, another new signing, would join Memphis and Luuk de Jong, who both scored on the bench last Sunday, as substitutes this Sunday.
La Liga table:
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