It's time for FC Barcelona to start getting their Liga title defence back on track after suffering their second defeat in the competition, 2-1 away to Real Madrid last week, meaning they are started the weekend five points adrift of the leaders, a difference that has hopefully only momentarily expanded to eight points after the all-whites saw off Valencia at the Bernabéu on Saturday.

This Sunday at 6.30pm CET, Elche are the guests at the Estadi Olimpic.

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Elche on song

And it won't be an easy task. Elche, who returned to the top flight last season following a two-year spell in the second division, have started their own campaign in impressive fashion. Under manager Eder Sarabia (who spent a year at Barça as assistant coach to Quique Setien) they were undefeated in their first seven games, although October was a step in the wrong direction, with two defeats (at Alavés and Espanyol) and just one point (earned in a 0-0 draw with Athletic Club) to show for their efforts.

But they are still in the top half of the league table, and are coming into this game after opening their Copa del Rey bid on Wednesday with a comfortable 4-0 win at lower league outfit Los Garres.

Familiar faces

The game marks the homecoming for a number of Culers who are currently serving the interests of the club from Alicante. One of those is goalkeeper Iñaki Peña, who is spending the year on loan to Elche, and another is right-back Hector Fort, who is at the club on a similar deal.

A third loanee is striker Rafa Mir, who is officially owned by Sevilla, but who spent two years of his early career scoring 32 goals for Barça Atlètic.

The man to watch most of all, however, is Andre Silva. The holder of 53 caps for Portugal who joined the club in the summer has scored four of his team's last seven goals. Álvaro Rodríguez, Aleix Febas and promising youngster Rodrigo Mendoza are other players that are making big contributions to Elche's season.

Possession is also likely to be a key factor in this game. Unsurprisingly, Barça currently top La Liga in that category, but Elche are third in the ranking. 

Head to head

If history is anything to go by, this game has home win written all over it. The last ten league meetings between these sides have seen Barça score 30 goals and receive only three in reply, with a 9-0 aggregate victory in the Copa del Rey also achieved in that time. Not since a 0-0 draw in 2014 have Elche had anything at all to show from encounters with Barça, and we have to go 21 games back, all the way to 1974, to find the last time that Elche actually beat the Catalans.

When Barça have played at home, the record is even more heavily blaugrana-dominated. Elche have never won away to Barça, and haven't even managed a draw in the last half century.

Team news

FC Barcelona come into this game with the great news that both Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo are back to full fitness after they both sat out the last three games.

But there was also a new setback this week with the announcement that midfield maestro Pedri is going to be out for a while, joining Joan Garcia, Gavi, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha on a worryingly long injury list.

Elche, in contrast, have reported no major fitness concerns. A further reason to appreciate that this game is not one to be taken lightly.

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