Espanyol vs Elche preview - Garcia ready for turning point

Posted Monday, April 06, 2015 by PA

Espanyol coach Sergio Garcia believes Monday's visit of Elche could be a turning point in his side's season as they look to ease any relegation fears.

Los Periquitos have won just twice in their last 11 matches to tumble out of the Copa del Rey at the semi-final stage and drop down to 12th in the Primera Division.

Garcia's men are still nine points above the bottom three, but with some testing-looking matches to come, they know they can ill afford to slip up at home to 16th-placed Elche.

Garcia told a press conference: "It's an important game. It's not decisive, but it could mark a 'before and after' in this league.

"We know that we have to go out strong and the fans need a victory to change the mentality, because you can already hear the murmurs among the supporters. Let's see if we can do that."

Elche have been well beaten in their last two outings, going down 3-0 to Sevilla and then 4-0 to Valencia, but Garcia is not about to let his guard down.

He said: "They are a difficult opponents and the situation they are going through is not the best. They will come and put us under pressure to try and save themselves and they will demand the best of us."

Prior to their last two matches, Elche had looked to be on the up, taking 10 points from a possible 15 and only tasting defeat at the hands of Real Madrid.

Elche coach Fran Escriba will be hoping to see his side return to that form, but he admits it is going to be tough with three games coming in the space of seven days.

He said: "We need to manage the situation because we're a small squad and we cannot play with the same XI.

"It's a very important week with three games. We're fighting not only for ourselves, but also for the fans, the badge and what it represents."