Barcelona vs Elche Date and Time: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 6PM (UK Time) Venue: Camp Nou Prediction: Barcelona Bookmaker: 1xbet
This coming Wednesday at Camp Nou, a week on from fresh Champions League disappointment against PSG. They have suffered another blow since then, and nothing short of three points will do here against an Elche side that has recently made a coaching switch. Barcelona’s latest setback came in the form of a 1-1 home draw against Cadiz at the weekend. Just when it looked as though Atleti’s Saturday defeat had thrust the Catalans right back into the title race, they went and failed to take advantage with Alex Fernandez’s late penalty ensuring the newly promoted side left with a point.
That is 5 points dropped against Cadiz this term, the difference between a 3 and 8 point deficit on top spot. To be fair to Ronald Koeman’s side, their league form and indeed many performances had been good until that match with 7 straight league victories heading into it. However, there is now an acceptance that this Barcelona side is still very much a work in progress and that there is always seemingly a poor result around the corner.
Elche will not exactly travel to Camp Nou full of belief but they will be more optimistic than they might have been a fortnight ago. Fran Escriba is back at the helm and it was a happy homecoming as Elche claimed their first win since October at the weekend, beating Eibar 1-0 at the Estadio Manuel Martinez Valero. The side from the Valencian region would climb all the way up to 15th were they to claim an unlikely win here. That’s very hard to see but they will see this as something of a free hit although they really struggled to land any serious blows on a weakened Barcelona side when the sides met last month in the reverse fixture.
Elche may benefit from something of a new manager bounce and belief in their camp should have been boosted considerably by that much-needed weekend win. However, they are short on attacking quality and do not like to be able to expose Barcelona’s flaws in the way some teams have done. There will be more chances of winning for Barcelona.
