Atletico Madrid vs Elche

Atletico Madrid’s bid to get their stuttering La Liga season back on track after the restart starts at the Metropolitano Stadium against basement boys Elche.

Atletico Madrid went into the mid-season break on an underwhelming run of three straight winless La Liga matches against bottom-half opponents (D1, L2), tumbling to fifth in the standings. But level on points with fourth-placed Athletic Bilbao, ‘Los Colchoneros’ are still in contention for a coveted Champions League finish, though an underwhelming home form remains a problem. Diego Simeone’s men have blown hot and cold across their six home league games this term (W2, D2, L2), including back-to-back draws leading to this encounter. Keen to embark on a new winning cycle after the restart, Atletico can fall back on their imperious ten-game winning H2H run against Elche in La Liga. On top of that, they’ve never lost a top-flight home clash against this opposition (W20, D3), winning each of the last 13 in a row.

In the meantime, the World Cup hiatus came at an opportune moment for dead-last Elche, giving new manager Pablo Machin seven weeks to rally his troops after taking over the reins in November. After guiding his side to a comfortable 3-0 win over CD Guadalajara in Copa del Rey on his touchline debut, Machin must now dig them out of trouble in La Liga. Elche entered the international break as the only side in Spain’s top flight yet to win a single league fixture this term (D4, L10), accounting for the second-worst 14-round start in La Liga’s history. If that’s not worrying enough for Machin, his men have picked up just one victory in their last 11 away league games against top-flight rivals from the Madrid region (D3, L7), beating Getafe 1-0 in September 2021.