Kenley Ward
Dailysports's expert
Elche
Atletico Madrid
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On May 14, Manuel Martinez Valero (Elche) will host the match of the 34th round of the La Liga, in which Elche will compete with Atlético. The battle will start at 16:15 CET.
Elche
The club has already become the de facto representative of the Segunda. According to the results of the previous round, which took place on May 2, the relegation was accepted – there were no chances, even purely mathematical ones, to keep a “registration” in the Primera for the fourth year in a row. Moreover, it is obvious that the fall will be from the last place, because “the Green-striped ones” have got only 16 points, which is two times less than the result of the nearest neighbour (Espanyol has taken 31 points). However, one should not assume that the duel with Beccacece’s wards automatically provides the opponent with 3 points. Such a mistake has been already made in the last but one round by Rayo Vallecano. Moreover, an opponent from Madrid, actually a contender for the European tournaments, was completely defeated – 4-0. On the other hand, the team had lost 6 La Liga matches in a row before. On May 2, Almeria took a 2-1 victory in the match with an underdog at the home arena.
Atlético
The team has got a rather controversial season. There were especially many failures in the first lap, and not only in the Primera. Then, the Spanish club failed in the Champions League, taking only the 4th place at the group stage and left without even the play-offs of the Europa League. There were failures both in winter and in spring, for example, in the Copa del Rey, albeit in extra time – the team lost to Real Madrid. Speaking about the Primera, Diego Someone’s wards were able to gain momentum. They had got a specific, but still motivation – to be better than “Los Merengues”. Today, “the Cholo-Team” has got ahead of their neighbours. The spring segment, just after a 1-1 draw in the battle against “the Galácticos”, brought 9 out of 10 matches (an away 0-1 defeat made by Barcelona was the only exception). Moreover, the last opponents, Valladolid and Cadiz, conceded 5 goals each.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Taking into account 11 previous head-to-head matches, Atlético has got 10 wins and a single draw. The current season brought to “the Cholo-Team” a 2-0 victory.
Predictions
Bookmakers do not expect surprises made by Elche. Thus, we recommend betting on the success of Atlético with “a -1 goal handicap” (odd: 1.76).
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