diff --git a/autoload/ale/lsp.vim b/autoload/ale/lsp.vim
index fcc16069..932465ee 100644
--- a/autoload/ale/lsp.vim
+++ b/autoload/ale/lsp.vim
@@ -569,6 +569,21 @@ function! ale#lsp#StartProgram(conn_id, executable, command) abort
     return l:job_id > 0
 endfunction
 
+" Split an address into [host, port].
+" The port will either be a number or v:null.
+function! ale#lsp#SplitAddress(address) abort
+    let l:port_match = matchlist(a:address, '\v:(\d+)$')
+
+    if !empty(l:port_match)
+        let l:host = a:address[:-len(l:port_match[1]) - 2]
+        let l:port = l:port_match[1] + 0
+
+        return [l:host, l:port ? l:port : v:null]
+    endif
+
+    return [a:address, v:null]
+endfunction
+
 " Connect to an LSP server via TCP.
 "
 " 1 will be returned if the connection is running, or 0 if the connection could
@@ -577,8 +592,23 @@ function! ale#lsp#ConnectToAddress(conn_id, address) abort
     let l:conn = s:connections[a:conn_id]
     let l:started = 0
 
-    " TODO: Start Neovim client here.
-    if !has_key(l:conn, 'channel_id') || !ale#socket#IsOpen(l:conn.channel_id)
+    if g:ale_use_neovim_lsp_api && !l:conn.is_tsserver
+        let [l:host, l:port] = ale#lsp#SplitAddress(a:address)
+
+        let l:client_id = luaeval('require("ale.lsp").start(_A)', {
+        \   'name': a:conn_id,
+        \   'host': l:host,
+        \   'port': l:port,
+        \   'root_dir': l:conn.root,
+        \   'init_options': l:conn.init_options,
+        \})
+
+        if l:client_id > 0
+            let l:conn.client_id = l:client_id
+        endif
+
+        return l:client_id > 0
+    elseif !has_key(l:conn, 'channel_id') || !ale#socket#IsOpen(l:conn.channel_id)
         let l:channel_id = ale#socket#Open(a:address, {
         \   'callback': {_, mess -> ale#lsp#HandleMessage(a:conn_id, mess)},
         \})
diff --git a/doc/ale.txt b/doc/ale.txt
index 1d0d5a66..222c48f8 100644
--- a/doc/ale.txt
+++ b/doc/ale.txt
@@ -476,6 +476,11 @@ functionality for Neovim's LSP client should work as expected, and this
 ensures ALE integrates well with other plugins that rely on Neovim's LSP
 client.
 
+NOTE: Neovim versions below `0.11.0` do not support socket connections to
+language servers when the `address` defined in ALE uses a hostname instead of
+an IP address. To work around this, configure language clients with an IP
+address instead of a hostname, or revert back to ALE's custom LSP client.
+
 See |lsp| for information on Neovim's built in LSP client.
 
 For diagnostics, for computing problems to show via ALE, ALE overrides the
diff --git a/lua/ale/lsp.lua b/lua/ale/lsp.lua
index f45f4598..01c59c86 100644
--- a/lua/ale/lsp.lua
+++ b/lua/ale/lsp.lua
@@ -6,6 +6,31 @@ module.start = function(config)
         config.init_options[true] = nil
     end
 
+    -- If configuring LSP via a socket connection, then generate the cmd
+    -- using vim.lsp.rpc.connect(), as defined in Neovim documentation.
+    if config.host then
+        local cmd_func = vim.lsp.rpc.connect(config.host, config.port)
+        config.host = nil
+        config.port = nil
+
+        -- Wrap the cmd function so we don't throw errors back to the user
+        -- if the connection to an address fails to start.
+        --
+        -- We will separately log in ALE that we failed to start a connection.
+        --
+        -- In older Neovim versions TCP connections do not function if supplied
+        -- a hostname instead of an address.
+        config.cmd = function(dispatch)
+            local success, result = pcall(cmd_func, dispatch)
+
+            if success then
+                return result
+            end
+
+            return nil
+        end
+    end
+
     config.handlers = {
         -- Override Neovim's handling of diagnostics to run through ALE's
         -- functions so all of the functionality in ALE works.
diff --git a/test/lsp/test_lsp_address_split.vader b/test/lsp/test_lsp_address_split.vader
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..adc1735a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lsp/test_lsp_address_split.vader
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+Execute(Address splitting should function as intended):
+  AssertEqual ['foo', v:null], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('foo')
+  AssertEqual ['foo:', v:null], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('foo:')
+  AssertEqual ['foo', v:null], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('foo:0')
+  AssertEqual ['foo', 123], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('foo:123')
+  AssertEqual ['protocol:/foo:', v:null], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('protocol:/foo:')
+  AssertEqual ['protocol:/foo', v:null], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('protocol:/foo:0')
+  AssertEqual ['protocol:/foo', 123], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('protocol:/foo:123')
+  AssertEqual ['protocol:foo', v:null], ale#lsp#SplitAddress('protocol:foo')