Barcelona v Elche Betting Tips [19 December 2021]

Barcelona will be eyeing a first win in four matches as they play host to struggling Elche. Going to this game, Barcelona are eighth in the La Liga standings, with 24 points and Elche are 16th with 15 points. Over the past few years, Barcelona have seen their best players leave and they are struggling to cope with it amid serious financial challenges. They are already 18 points behind league leaders Real Madrid, have been eliminated from the Champions League and are having to deal with injuries to top players. It isn’t the best time for them and their biggest hope here will be to carry their home form to this clash. They’ve won five of their nine league matches at home and will also hope to improve in attack. They’ve failed to score more than a goal in the last four league matches at home and in their last home league game they failed to score completely, losing 1-0 to Real Betis.

Elche are in poorer form, but with Barcelona going through tough times, they’ll want to get their share of points from the falling giants. Elche have managed three wins in their last four matches, but two of them have been against very weak opposition, in the Copa del Rey. They’ve been poor in defence and don’t carry to this game many clean sheets. In their last league game, Elche suffered a 2-1 loss away to Valencia, that being the sixth time in nine league games that they’ve conceded two or more goals. They have just one win in nine league matches and away from home, they have no win in the last seven league games, losing five of them. In eight matches against Barcelona, Elche have never registered a win, only drawing once. They’ve been so poor in attack in those matches that they’ve never scored a goal against Barcelona.

Barcelona aren’t having the best season but they have a better run than Elche in La Liga. Their home form has also offered them some reprieve, with five wins in the nine home league games they’ve played. Elche have no win in the last seven away league games, and will be underdogs here. Back Barcelona to return to winning ways.