Having suffered an unexpected defeat to Deportivo La Coruna last time out, Valencia will have a perfect opportunity when they host the side from neighbouring Alicante. Elche slipped to the relegation zone with yet another home defeat and they have little to hope for ahead of the clash at Mestalla.

Alvaro Negredo set for Valencia debut

Even if the club management did well to reinforce the squad over the summer, nobody could expect such an impressive start to the league campaign. Los Che, nonetheless, hit the ground running early on, recording five wins and two draws in their opening seven fixtures to climb to second in the league standings. The 1-1 away draw against in-form Sevilla and impressive 3-1 triumph over holders Atletico Madrid hinted Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were ready to mount a serious top 4 challenge, although the good run finally came to an end as Valencia were soundly beaten by Deportivo La Coruna last weekend. The 3-0 final scoreline was extremely harsh on los Che, but no doubt it was a bad day and the team will now have even bigger motivation to make things right against Elche. The return of key midfielder Andre Gomes is likely to be a major boost, with summer signing Alvaro Negredo expected to be handed his debut, albeit from the bench, after finally recovering from a serious injury. And with other key men available, a comfortable win appears on the cards for los Che.

Diego Alves and Andre Gomes will be restored to the starting line-up, while Alvaro Negredo is back in contention. Sofiane Feghouli, Carles Gil and Jaume are out injured.

No light at the end of the tunnel

Elche somehow survived the first campaign upon gaining promotion to La Liga, albeit by one point, but they now look like the main candidates for the drop. And while nobody was surprised to see los Ilicitanos suffer heavy defeats to Barcelona and Real Madrid, it is their poor performances against bottom-table sides, especially in home games, that are enough to suggest this will be a very difficult season. Elche did well to bring four points from the travels, with their sole win coming away at Rayo Vallecano, but the team have lost last three home fixtures without scoring a single goal. Los Ilicitanos find themselves in all sorts of trouble at the moment, having picked up mere one point from last five league matches, and the latest home loss to Sevilla mean they face an uphill task away against very good Valencia side. The visitors will have two important players back to the starting line-up, but that is unlikely to make much of a difference given the obvious gap in quality between the two sides.

Jonathan de Jesus returns from suspension, whereas Garry Rodrigues will be recalled to the starting line-up after coming off the bench against Sevilla.

Verdict

The heavy defeat to Deportivo La Coruna was clearly a one-off result and with Andre Gomes and Alvaro Negredo back, Valencia should have no problems returning to winning ways. Meanwhile, Elche are clearly unable to match the Spain’s top sides and they are in for a difficult night at Mestalla.

Top pick: Valencia/Valencia   2.00 (1/1) @ Betfair

Alternative pick 1: Valencia with -1.5 AH   2.16 (29/25) @ BetVictor

Alternative pick 2: Valencia to win to nil   2.25 (5/4) @ SkyBet