Barcelona dominance against Elche could end without Messi

As was the case against Cornellá midweek, Barcelona are facing off against an opponent with more to play for. Elche are currently in 18th place in the La Liga table, but with three games in hand and only one point behind 17th place Alavés in a safety spot.

Barcelona already met Elche in the Gamper Trophy at the start of the season, but these are entirely different sides now. Elche reinforced quite a few positions since that time, including at least seven regular starters.

Most interestingly, Elche’s two best players under Jorge Almirón, who took over in August, are two holdovers from the previous regime. 31-year-old left winger Fidel and 31-year-old right winger and right wing-back Josan are tied for the team lead with four goals each and a combined three assists.

Elche have only scored 16 goals this season, the lowest in the league, but somehow tied with Getafe, Osasuna, and Eibar. Elche has only conceded 23 goals this season, just six more than the Blaugrana, who sit in 4th place.

If Elche is to score at home, where they are winless in their last six La Liga matches, it will come down the wings after absorbing pressure. Expect Almirón to favor a 5-3-2, but a compact 4-4-2 is an option as well.

Beating Barcelona in La Liga would be historic for the Valencian side, as they haven’t defeated the Catalans in that competition since December of 1974. Barcelona have also kept a clean sheet in eight straight matches against Elche, a mark that is just one shy of being the most all-time against a single opponent in La Liga.

Barcelona is also on the road for their fourth consecutive La Liga match, and believe it or not, a win would be their longest winning streak in the competition this season. Not that surprising though since Ronald Koeman hadn’t won three matches in a row until a few weeks ago.

Barcelona will be without Lionel Messi again, but as was the case against Cornellá, Koeman should be able to inspire his players to fight on without their captain.

Meanwhile, Sergiño Dest is questionable, and the player himself has said that he is lacking more in confidence at the moment than fitness. Expect Oscar Mingueza to start as the right-back, with Clement Lenglet and an in-form Ronald Araújo, who was not once dribbled past against Cornellá, to partner in the middle.

The rest of Barcelona’s line-up should be the regulars that had the team playing well prior to the Supercopa. None of the bench players did themselves any favors against Cornellá, so there shouldn’t be any surprises. With Messi suspended though, Martin Braithwaite should keep his spot up top.

Expected line-ups:

Barcelona (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Alba, Lenglet, Araújo, Mingueza; Busquets, de Jong, Pedri; Griezmann, Braithwaite, Dembélé

Elche (4-4-2): Badia; Josema, González, Verdu, Barragán; Fidel, Marcone, Guti, Josan; Boyé, Rigoni

Dan Hilton is an American journalist, broadcaster, and current Editor-in-Chief of BarcaBlog. Extensive work as a play-by-play broadcaster, producer behind the scenes, and quite average player in his younger years has given him a well-rounded and informative perspective on the sport. Alongside BarcaBlog founder Francesc, Dan started The Barcelona Podcast in 2017

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Source: barcablog.com