Málaga vs Elche Prediction - Will Elche Be Able To Steal Some Points At La Rosaleda?

Next Saturday, Málaga will entertain Elche at La Rosaleda for round 36 of Liga BBVA on a match that might prove to be of paramount importance for the visitors as they are far from being safe from relegation, when there are still three matches to play until the end of the season.

After last weekend’s defeat at Coliseum Alfonso Pérez against a Getafe side imperilled by the shadow of relegation, Málaga returns home to take on Elche, another team that is only three points above the relegation line.

Málaga’s season was far from being brilliant. It seems that Bernd Schuster was never able to get his message across successfully to the players and the Andalusian side will surely end the season at the bottom half of the league table.

Los Boquerones seem to be already planning next season,since they have recently signed the Ivorian defender Arthur Boka from Stuttgart and they appear to be close to signing Real Bétis’ Spanish forward Rubén Castro.

For next Saturday’s match against Elche, Schuster will not be able to count on Marcos Angeleri, who is suspended, while he is still not certain on the contribution from the Argentinean defensive midfielder Fernando Tissone and on the Spanish defender Sergio Sánchez, since they are still recovering from their respective injuries.

Málaga’s next opponents, Elche, are currently not enjoying a very positive moment at La Liga. The team from Comunidad Valenciana has only managed to win one of their last nine matches and they are dangerously close to the relegation zone. In fact, they are only two points above Almeria, that occupy the first place below the relegation line, which means that Elche cannot allow any major issues until the end of the season.

After their draw last week against Levante, a match that was considered to be the most important of the season by Elche’s manager (Fran Escribá), Los Ilicitanos found themselves on a very delicate situation, especially if one considers that their last two matches are against Barcelona and Sevilla.

For the match against Málaga, Fran Escribá is also not yet certain if will be able to count on the forwards Manu del Moral and Álvaro Giménez and on the team’s captain Edu Albácar, who are all sidelined because of injury.

When both sides met at Martínez Valero last December, Málaga won 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Ignacio Camacho, a result that Elche certainly would not like to see repeated if they still want to be at the Spanish football top tier next season.

Málaga

Stats: W-9 L-16D-8

Recent Form - WWLWL

Elche

Stats: W-8 L-15 D-11

Recent Form - DWLLD

Possible Line-ups

Málaga (4-2-3-1) – Caballero - Weligton - Ferreira - Sánchez - Antunes - Darder - Camacho - Samuel - Duda - Portillo - Santa Cruz

Elche (4-2-3-1) – M. Herrera - Suárez - Botía - Pellegrín - Cisma - R. Pérez - J. Márquez - C. Gil - Coro - Rodrigues - Boakye

Prediction

Málaga 1 Elche 1