Villarreal brought an end to Elche’s nine-match unbeaten home run in LaLiga with a convincing 3-1 victory at the Estadio Martínez Valero.

The visitors made a blistering start and surged into a two-goal lead within the opening 15 minutes of an entertaining first half. Alberto Moleiro opened the scoring with his seventh league goal of the season, latching onto a perfectly weighted pass from Georges Mikautadze before guiding a precise finish into the far bottom corner.

Mikautadze then turned provider into goalscorer moments later, producing a similarly composed finish after being picked out by Nicolas Pépé to double Villarreal’s advantage.

Elche responded well and reduced the deficit just after the half-hour mark. Aleix Febas threaded a clever pass into Martim Neto, who turned sharply on the edge of the box and fired an excellent strike into the far corner to bring the hosts back into the contest.

Both sides had opportunities to add to the scoreline before the break. Ayoze Pérez forced a smart save from Iñaki Peña, while Neto went close to a second for Elche with a diving header that sailed narrowly over the crossbar.

Mikautadze had the chance to effectively seal the points early in the second half when he was sent through one-on-one again, but his attempted chip clipped the roof of the net. Elche threatened to make Villarreal pay for that miss as they pushed for an equaliser, yet their efforts ultimately proved in vain.

Villarreal wrapped up the victory late on when Alfonso Pedraza bundled the ball home after meeting an exquisite long pass from Sergi Cardona, sealing the win and snapping a three-match losing streak.

The result lifts the Yellow Submarine up to third place in the LaLiga table, while Elche slip to ninth, missing out on what would have been back-to-back league victories for the first time this season.