Espanyol vs Elche Preview

Bottom of the table make the trip to the RCDE Stadium on Friday, with Elche yet to find any real footing six games into the new La Liga season and Espanyol themselves in need of a response after four losses from their last five with no wins.

Just one win from their last five tells the story of a stop-start opening to the campaign for Espanyol. That win came comfortably enough, 2-0 away at Osasuna, but either side of it sits a run that’s yielded little else — most recently a 2-1 defeat away at Rayo Vallecano, a 1-1 home draw with Sevilla before the Osasuna win, and further back, back-to-back defeats to Real Sociedad (2-1 away) and Real Madrid (1-2 at home, at the RCDE Stadium) that opened this sample. One win, one draw, three losses — Espanyol have scored in all five but haven’t been able to keep the door shut at the other end often enough to turn that into results.

Elche’s finish to this run says plenty about where they sit in the table: a 2-3 loss at home to Real Madrid on Tuesday made it four defeats from five, with only a 1-1 draw away at Ath Bilbao interrupting the slide. Before the Real Madrid loss, they’d lost 2-3 at home to Real Sociedad, and further back a 3-2 defeat away at Racing Santander and a chastening 0-5 hammering at home to Barcelona bookend a run in which Elche have shipped 15 goals in five league games and won none of them.

Espanyol hold a clear edge in this fixture, unbeaten in the last five meetings with three wins to Elche’s none and two draws splitting the difference. Most recently the sides shared the points 2-2 away at Elche, and the meeting before that Espanyol won 1-0 at home — in fact, Elche haven’t beaten Espanyol at all across this sample, and two of their three defeats in the run came at the RCDE Stadium itself.

Espanyol sit 8th on 7 points, with Elche bottom of the table on just 2 points from six games. A win for Elche would move them to 5 points, still bottom three but level with Málaga and Villarreal rather than cut adrift on their own.

In Spain, the match is available via DAZN Spain, DAZN LaLiga and Movistar+. In Great Britain, coverage is on Premier Sports 1 and the Premier Sports Player app, with the same channels carrying it in Ireland Republic. In the United States, viewers can follow the action via ESPN+, fuboTV and the ESPN App.

Possible Lineups

Espanyol (4-2-3-1)
Dmitrovic, Hartman, Riedel, Gonzalez, Bauza, Cabrera, Gabriel, El Hilali, Hinojo, Hernandez, Fernandez

Elche (4-5-1)
Dituro, Buba Sangare, Redondo, Chust, Revivo, Aguado, Villar, Osorio, Neto, Valera, Tete Mo

Espanyol Form

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
❌	Rayo Vallecano	2-1	Espanyol	LL	15.09.26
✅	Osasuna	0-2	Espanyol	LL	12.09.26
🤝	Espanyol	1-1	Sevilla	LL	06.09.26
❌	Real Sociedad	2-1	Espanyol	LL	29.08.26
❌	Espanyol	1-2	Real Madrid	LL	22.08.26

Elche Form

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
❌	Elche	2-3	Real Madrid	LL	15.09.26
🤝	Ath Bilbao	1-1	Elche	LL	12.09.26
❌	Elche	2-3	Real Sociedad	LL	07.09.26
❌	Racing Santander	3-2	Elche	LL	28.08.26
❌	Elche	0-5	Barcelona	LL	23.08.26

Head-to-Head

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
Elche	2-2	Espanyol	LL	01.03.26
Espanyol	1-0	Elche	LL	25.10.25
Elche	2-2	Espanyol	LL2	27.04.24
Espanyol	2-0	Elche	LL2	18.11.23
Elche	0-1	Espanyol	LL	19.02.23

TV Listings / Streaming

Country	Channel
Spain	DAZN Spain / DAZN LaLiga / Movistar+ / LaLiga TV Bar HD
Great Britain	Premier Sports 1 / Premier Sports Player
Ireland Republic	Premier Sports 1 / Premier Sports Player
USA	ESPN Deportes / ESPN+ / fuboTV / ESPN App
Germany	DAZN Germany / DAZN1 Germany
Italy	DAZN Italia
France	DAZN France / Disney+ Premium
Portugal	DAZN Portugal
Japan	DAZN Japan / U-NEXT
Canada	TSN Premium

Table

POS.	TEAM	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	P	FORM
1	Barcelona	5	5	0	0	21	4	17	15	W W W W W
2	Real Madrid	6	5	0	1	17	6	11	15	W W L W W
3	Real Betis	5	4	0	1	7	6	1	12	W W L W W
4	Deportivo Alavés	6	3	1	2	11	6	5	10	L L W W D
5	Atlético Madrid	5	3	1	1	10	6	4	10	W L W D W
6	Sevilla	5	3	1	1	8	6	2	10	W D L W W
7	Deportivo La Coruña	5	2	3	0	9	6	3	9	D W W D D
8	Espanyol	6	2	1	3	9	7	2	7	L W D L L
9	Athletic Club	5	2	1	2	7	6	1	7	D W W L L
10	Racing Santander	5	2	1	2	9	9	0	7	W L W L D
11	Osasuna	5	2	1	2	5	8	-3	7	L L W W D
12	Rayo Vallecano	6	2	1	3	10	15	-5	7	W L W L D
13	Real Sociedad	6	2	1	3	6	11	-5	7	L W D W L
14	Levante	5	1	2	2	7	9	-2	5	L D W D L
15	Getafe	5	1	2	2	3	6	-3	5	D D L W L
16	Celta de Vigo	6	0	4	2	3	6	-3	4	D D D L L
17	Valencia	5	1	1	3	2	10	-8	4	W L L L D
18	Málaga	5	0	3	2	2	8	-6	3	D D L D L
19	Villarreal	5	0	2	3	7	10	-3	2	L L D D L
20	Elche	6	0	2	4	8	16	-8	2	L D L L L