36′ Lemar steps across to try and win the ball off Guti, but steps on his foot and is shown the first yellow card of the game.
35′ Atletico are happy to just sit back and let Elche keep the ball in their own half as the hosts are slow to mount an attack. Marcone plays a good throughball forward for Guti, but he’s put straight under pressure.
33′ Guti plays a loose pass out to Morente and Hermoso reacts quickly to step in and intercept it. He plays a one-two with Carrasco to open up some space down the left but his cross from the byline is blocked by Palacios.
31′ Fidel makes another good run down the left and pulls away from Trippier to square it to Morente. His first touch is loose and he slides in to try and keep it from Kondogbia but catches him and the chance goes to waste.
29′ Oblak goes long with his clearance and Carrasco brings it down brilliantly on the stretch. He’s put under pressure straight away from Morente though and is fouled by him as he tries to break away.
27′ Atletico are sitting back as Elche patiently continue to push forward and Milla wins a free-kick when Savic catches him late. Marcone curls the ball into the box, but it comes to nothing for the hosts.
25′ Elche are starting to move the ball a bit quicker now after going behind, but their passing in the final third is letting them down. Fidel finds himself in a lot of room down the left, but he hits a poor cross against Savic at the near post.
23′ It’s a good run from Carrasco down the left to draw the defenders out to him and open up some space in the middle for Llorente.
23′ LLORENTE SCORES! Carrasco pulls the ball back to the penalty spot where Llorente is hovering unmarked and he hits the shot first time. He fires it on goal and it takes a deflection off Calvo’s arm on the way through which is what takes it past Gazzaniga into the back of the net. 1-0 Atletico!
22′ Escriba isn’t happy with the decision that’s just gone against his side as he feels they should’ve had a free-kick instead of Atletico getting a throw-in. The referee has gone across to have a word and try to calm him down.
20′ Atletico are still keeping the pressure on Elche here and the hosts just can’t get out of their own box. Suarez lets it run to Llorente, who takes it past Gonzalez and drills a shot from the edge of the box, but Gazzaniga holds onto it.
18′ DISALLOWED! VAR has had a look at the goal and Llorente had timed his run off the back of Josema perfectly, but Suarez was just ahead of him when he played the ball across the box and the goal won’t count. Still 0-0!
16′ SUAREZ SCORES! The Elche defenders aren’t quick to react when Llorente gets in behind and Gazzaniga rushes out to him. He squares it across the box to Suarez who sends it into the back of the empty net off the bottom of the crossbar, but VAR is having a look at this…
14′ It’s Elche’s first real bit of possession of the game and they move it upfield quickly. Fidel has space on the left and he curls a good cross into the middle of the box for Milla, but he heads his effort over the bar.
12′ CLOSE! It’s a clever bit of play from Suarez as he lets the ball run through his legs to Correa as he turns Calvo before continuing the run. It’s flicked to him in the box and he tries to drill it into the near bottom corner, but he sends it just wide of the post.
10′ Atletico have won their last three away games against Elche in LaLiga, winning 2-0 in each of the last two.
8′ Trippier slides it through to Correa on the right of the box and he pulls it back into a dangerous area. Gazzaniga gets down quickly to push it away but he sends it back towards the forward and Gonzalez has to react quickly to put it out for a corner.
6′ Carrasco cuts inside from the left this time and he fizzes a low ball into the box looking for Correa. It’s just out of his reach though and a slight nick off Palacios helps it into Gazzaniga’s gloves.
4′ It’s still Atletico on the ball here and they’re patiently playing out from the back as they try to open up Elche. They switch it from right to Carrasco on the left and his cross is palmed away by Gazzaniga in the middle.
2′ Atletico are seeing a lot of the ball in the opening minutes here and Lemar squares it to Correa 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!
