Elche will welcome Real Betis to the Estadio Martinez Valero for their opening fixture of the 2025-26 La Liga season on Monday night.
After two years away, the hosts secured a return to the Spanish top-flight after placing second in last season’s Segunda Division.
It would be fair to say that the Green-Striped Ones have been a bit of a yo-yo club over the last decade, so survival will be the main objective for Eder Sarabia and his side this season.
The Alicante-based outfit can expect a stern first test on their return to the big time when Real Betis come to town on matchday one.
Manuel Pellegrini has improved Betis no end in the past few years and they followed up their seventh-placed finish in 2024 by going one better last season.
The Green and Whites also reached last season’s Europa Conference League final, though they did suffer a heavy 4-1 defeat at the hands of Premier League heavyweights Chelsea.
How the bookies view it: Betis to start with a bang
The bookmakers expect Real Betis to hit the ground on Monday night, with an away win priced up at 11/10 on Boylesports.
Elche will come into their opening league game of the season as 11/5 underdogs on Boylesports while the draw is also considered improbable at 23/10 with the same firm.
Head to head: Real Betis seeking a repeat
Real Betis triumphed in each of the two La Liga meetings between the pair back in season 2022-23, including a thrilling 3-2 victory at this venue. The same scoreline on Monday night is a massive 28/1 on Boylesports.
Players to watch: Sergi to sin?
Sergi Altimira committed multiple fouls in three of his final five La Liga appearances away from home for Real Betis last season, making a repeat here a value option at 23/20 on Unibet.
Mourad El Ghezouani was a key performer for Elche during last season’s promotion campaign, hitting nine goals across his 31 Segunda appearances. The Moroccan forward is as big as 5/2 on Boylesports to make the net bulge on Monday night.
Predicted line-ups
The newly-promoted hosts will be unable to call upon the services of the injured Yago Santiago, but apart from that they have a clean bill of health.
As for Real Betis, they will be without influential midfielder Isco due to injury, while Abde Ezzalzouli, Diego Llorente, Iker Losada, Marc Roca and Nelson Deossa are all rated as doubtful.
Elche: Dituro; Bigas, Petrot, Affengruber; Nunez, Aguado, Mendoza, Valera; Febas, Rodriguez, El Ghezouani
Real Betis: Lopez; Bellerin, Bartra, Natan, Firpo; Altimira, Fornals; Riquelme, Lo Celso, Avila; Hernandez
Anything else catch the eye?
Given how frequently both teams scored in matches involving Real Betis last season, the same selection on Monday night looks well worthy of support at 10/11 on Boylesports.
This wager would have been a winning one in a league-high 27 of Betis’ 38 La Liga matches last season, including 13 of their 19 assignments away from home.
Elsewhere, the 6/5 on Bet Victor for this clash to feature five or more cards holds plenty of appeal – both teams' matches last season averaged in the region of five cards per 90.
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