Key Facts
- Elche (10th/23) and Sevilla (14th/20) are locked in a tight mid-table battle; a win could bring Elche closer to Girona and give Sevilla some breathing room from Osasuna.
- Elche has scored in each of its last five competitive games, with 25 league goals spread across 12 scorers; at the same time, the 1-3 defeat to Villarreal showed defensive vulnerability.
- Sevilla are in a negative streak with four defeats in five competitive games and no goals since mid-December; goals are often conceded after the break.
- Elche are missing Bigas and Fort in defense and Mir in attack, while Sevilla are without Marcão (suspended) and Azpilicueta; Febas will become more important in the center.
- Elche has not won in five direct duels, with three ending in draws and both teams conceding goals in each game; accordingly, 2.3 for a home win and 3.3 for a draw are fair prices.
Sevilla have been waiting to score for four league games, while Elche set a club record in the first half of the season with 25 league goals – this is precisely the tension that will characterize the 20th matchday on Monday, January 19, 2026, when Eder Sarabia’s Elche welcome Matías Almeyda’s FC Sevilla to the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero. Elche are in 10th place with 23 points, one point behind Girona and one ahead of Rayo Vallecano. Sevilla are in 14th place with 20 points, between Getafe and Osasuna, and Almeyda has used more players than any other coach in the league. In September, the two sides drew 2-2 in Nervión, and Elche have been waiting for a win in five direct duels. Elche are coming off a 2-1 defeat to Betis in the Copa del Rey and are still without Bigas and Mir. Sevilla are traveling after a 1-0 loss to Celta, will be without Marcão and Azpilicueta, and Adams and Ejuke could return from AFCON.
- Venue: Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero, Elche
- Date and time: January 19, 2026, 9:00 p.m.
- Competition: La Liga (Matchday 20)
The bookmakers are leaning slightly towards Elche and are pricing a home win at 2.3, although a draw is also priced quite high at 3.3. This seems like a fair price, because Sarabia’s team continues to spread the goals around, even though Mir is missing this time, while Sevilla has failed to score in four league games and is also traveling without Marcão and Azpilicueta. Nevertheless, Nervión expects Adams and Ejuke to return. If this picks up the pace, the game could end up with both teams scoring.
Elche CF Form & Record Check
Elche goes into matchday 20 in tenth place with 23 points, one point behind Girona and one ahead of Rayo Vallecano, so the field is tightly packed. Across all competitions, they have two wins, one draw, and two losses in their last five games, scoring in every game. In four of those five games, there were fewer than 1.5 goals at halftime, and four went over 1.5 by the final whistle. The 1-1 draw in Valencia summed up the mix of promise and rough edges pretty well: Diangana scored almost immediately, but then gave away the penalty that leveled the score, and Elche once again missed out on their first away win in the league. The depth in attack is real, with 25 league goals from 12 different scorers, but the 3-1 home defeat to Villarreal also showed how quickly a defense can fall apart when the first line of pressing is bypassed. The 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano was the clearest sign of what Sarabia wants to see: aggressive play down the wings and quick runs into the box. In the Copa del Rey, they were knocked out by Betis, losing 2-1 after taking the lead through Pétrot, and that brief loss of control is still fresh in their minds. Without Bigas, Fort, and Mir, the squad is thinner, so Febas’ ability to calm games down becomes even more important.
Sarabia is likely to stick with his usual 4-2-3-1 formation at Elche CF, with Dituro in goal behind a back four of Núñez, Chust, Affengruber, and Pedrosa. Redondo and Aguado will lay the foundations in midfield, allowing Febas to link up play between the lines.
Diangana and Valera are the most likely options on the wings, with Rodríguez set to lead the line up front. Bigas remains sidelined with a knee injury and Fort is still out with shoulder problems, so options for rotation in defense are limited and Chust should continue alongside Affengruber. Mir is also missing up front, which pushes Rodríguez towards starting as striker, with Silva as the obvious alternative if his ongoing fitness problems are managed properly. This is an assessment, not a confirmed starting lineup.
Sevilla Form & Record Check
Sevilla comes to Elche, but the momentum is clearly pointing in the wrong direction: 0-1 at home against Celta, 0-3 against Levante and most recently 0-2 at Real Madrid, plus a 1-0 defeat to Alaves in the Copa del Rey. In retrospect, the 4-0 win over Oviedo seems more like an anomaly. A late penalty decided the game against Celta, but Sevilla struggled to get going offensively. Sevilla have lost four of their last five competitive games and failed to secure a single draw, and they have been waiting to score a goal since mid-December. Their slump after the break is striking, with most of their goals conceded coming after the interval, the Celta penalty in the 88th minute being the most recent example. Before halftime, they often struggle, but after that, mistakes and flagging energy open up spaces. Their 14th place in the table with 20 points is anything but reassuring, just one point behind Getafe above them and one ahead of Osasuna below them, so there will be plenty of excitement on Monday. Almeyda’s constant reshuffling, with 31 players used, has not exactly stabilized possession, even if Carmona, Agoumé, and Batista Mendy provide at least some structure. Marcão is suspended and Azpilicueta is out, while Adams and Ejuke could return from their assignments in time.
Almeyda is likely to stick to his usual approach with a back three. He will probably field Sevilla with Vlachodimos in goal, with Carmona, Gudelj, and Salas in front of him to boost the build-up play. Sánchez and Suazo will provide width as wing-backs, while Mendy and Sow will cover the center. In front of them, Agoumé and Fernández are most likely to provide support for Romero. The selection seems to be based more on availability than preference: Marcão remains suspended and Azpilicueta is still out, so the options for rotation in defense are thin. The wings are also affected by the absences of Vargas and Alfon. Sevilla hopes that Ejuke and Adams will return from international duty in time, but this prediction assumes that they will start on the bench at best, with Alexis Sánchez as the most important alternative in attack.
Elche CF – Sevilla Head-to-head & Statistics
Elche are still without a win in their last five encounters, while Sevilla have two wins and there have been three draws. The most recent reference point is September 2025, a 2-2 draw in Seville, which once again showed how difficult it is for Elche to seal the deal against this opponent. Three of the five games ended in a draw, yet Sevilla remains unbeaten in five consecutive head-to-head matches. Goals were almost a given: Sevilla scored in all five games, and Elche conceded in all five, two streaks of five games that characterize this rivalry. Each of these games had over 1.5 total goals, but four remained under 3.5, and 1-1 was the recurring result, in 2021 and again in 2023. The momentum has tended to favor Sevilla, with Elche conceding a goal in the first half in four of the five games and often finding themselves chasing the game. Sevilla’s two wins were shutouts, 2-0 in 2022 and 3-0 in 2023, and those are also the only instances in which Elche failed to score. Even in the three draws, Sevilla avoided falling behind at halftime in every game. This recent history sets the stage for the tactical questions on Monday: Elche will be without Bigas and Fort in defense, and Mir will also be missing in attack, which could push Sarabia to play a more cautious game. Sevilla will be without Marcão due to a league suspension and Azpilicueta is injured, while Vargas is also out and Ejuke and Adams are away on international duty. This personnel fluctuation could make the whole thing less predictable than the series of five direct duels without defeat would suggest.
