Espanyol have moved into eighth position in the La Liga table with a comfortable 3-1 win over Elche in Barcelona.

The hosts had the lead after just two minutes when David Lopez found the back of the net with a powerful header, before Victor Sanchez passed up a clear chance to double the home side's tally moments later.

Coro had Elche's best chance of the early exchanges after 14 minutes, but the forward's header brought a fine save from Espanyol keeper Kiko Casilla.

Espanyol doubled their advantage after 21 minutes when Diego Colotto found some space inside the box before placing his effort into the bottom corner.

The lead became 3-0 just before the hour mark when Pizzi collected a through-ball from Christian Stuani before finding the bottom corner with a low drive.

Elche registered late on when Juan Fuentes turned into his own net, but it was too little too late as Javier Aguirre's side continued their strong run of form.