Elche v Barcelona Betting Tips [1 April 2023]
Football - LaLiga
1 April 2023 14:00
The match
Matchday 27 in the Spanish Primera Division sees Barcelona looking to tighten their grip on the La Liga trophy when they travel to the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero to take on Elche. The Blaugrana have opened up a commanding 12 point lead over second-place Real Madrid following a 2-1 win over their eternal rivals in the most recent outing. The result has the Catalan giants looking almost certain to end their four year wait to return to the summit of Spanish football. The win over Madrid means that Barca have now won their last four matches on the trot across all competitions. They will have to maintain their focus here, however, as this match precedes another massive Clasico clash with Barcelona coming up against Real Madrid in the Copa de Rey semi-finals just four days after this one. This could prove to be a trickier-than-usual fixture for the visitors with injury concerns mounting and missing a number of key players.
Elche will hope to take advantage of a potential look-ahead spot for the visitors as they enter this match as massive underdogs to get the win. It’s been an overall dreadful season for Franjiverdes who sit rock-bottom of the Primera Division table with only 13 points to their name from 26 matches. Elche have managed only two wins on the year, drawing seven and losing the remaining 17. The last time they won at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero was at the beginning of the month in a 3-1 win over Villarreal. That victory represents Elche’s only home win this season as they’ve only managed a total of 0.54 points per match in front of the home fans. Their last match resulted in a 2-0 away loss to Real Sociedad, ending what was previously a relatively positive two match unbeaten run.Key Statistics
- Barcelona have kept a clean sheet in three of their last four matches and have only conceded one goal during that stretch.
- Barcelona have failed to find the net only once in their last 20 matches across all competitions.
- The Blaugrana have been absolutely dominant on the defensive side of the ball this season, keeping a league high 19 clean sheets from 26 matches and conceding only nine goals on the season.
- Elche are the worst team defensively, keeping only one clean sheet this season and conceding a league high 51 goals.
The bet of our experts
Injuries to players such as Pedri, De Jong, Christensen and Dembele mean that this might not be as comfortable a victory as many expect but the visitors should still be able to get this done. Barcelona’s defensive form has been outstanding this season as the club still sits on single-digit goals allowed. With Elche failing to find the net in nearly half of their matches this season, expect the visitors to eventually grind out a 1-0 or 2-0 victory. Our Elche CF vs Barcelona prediction: Barcelona win to nil
