2′ Atletico are seeing a lot of the ball in the opening minutes here and Carrasco squares it to Suarez on the edge of the box for an early chance. He drills a shot on goal, but it’s blocked by Calvo.
1′ Suarez gets the game underway for Atletico!
The teams are out on the pitch now, with kick-off just moments away.
Elche have lost their last seven games against Atletico in LaLiga, failing to score in four of the last five. Only against Real Madrid (eight between 1984 and 2015) have they endured a longer run of consecutive defeats in the top-flight.
Diego Simeone makes five changes to his team after the loss to Bilbao on Sunday, with Hermoso, Gimenez, Lemar, Kondogbia and Suarez all coming in. Felipe, Koke, Herrera and Saul drop to the bench and Renan Lodi is out with a thigh injury.
Fran Escriba makes just two changes to the side that beat Levante last time out as he brings Josema and Milla into the team. Piatti starts on the bench, while Johan Mojica misses out through injury.
ATLETICO MADRID SUBS: Sime Vrsaljko, Joao Felix, Saul Niguez, Ivo Grbic, Lucas Torreira, Vitolo, Felipe, Koke, Hector Herrera, Moussa Dembele.
ATLETICO MADRID STARTING XI (4-4-2): Jan Oblak; Kieran Trippier, Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Mario Hermoso; Marcos Llorente, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Thomas Lemar, Yannick Carrasco; Luis Suarez, Angel Correa.
ELCHE SUBS: Antonio Barragan, Gonzalo Verdu, Edgar Badia, Pablo Piatti, Victor Rodriguez, Nino, Lluis Andreu, Luismi, Cifu, Josan, Omenuke Mfulu, Emiliano Rigoni.
ELCHE STARTING XI (4-4-2): Paulo Gazzaniga; Helibelton Palacios, Dani Calvo, Diego Gonzalez, Josema; Tete Morente, Raul Guti, Ivan Marcone, Fidel; Lucas Boye, Pere Milla.
Atletico can go five points clear at the top of LaLiga with a win today. They suffered a setback in the race for the title with a 2-1 loss to Athletic Bilbao last time out and haven’t won any of their last five on the road in all competitions. As for Elche, they have a chance to move out of the relegation zone if they avoid defeat here. They’ve won just one of their last eight games (D3 L4), but it came last time out when they beat Levante 1-0.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the LaLiga meeting between Elche and Atletico Madrid at the Martinez Valero!
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