Maccabi Haifa vs. Slavia Prague: Preview and betting tips

Slavia will play the third match of the group stage of the Conference Europa League on Thursday. After a trip to Rotterdam, it will visit Israel for the first time in a year, where it will play Maccabi Haifa. What to expect from the match?

Maccabi can’t be happy with the group’s progress so far, after two rounds they have only a point for their draw with Feyenoord and haven’t scored a goal in the group so far. So they need to work hard on Thursday and at least draw.

The Seychangers lost badly at home to Feyenoord after their home win against Union Berlin, but will go into the game as clear favourites. They set themselves up for the battle in Israel with a 3-1 win against Slovan Liberec in the league.

Omar Atzili (9+2), the home team’s mainstay, is currently recovering from a hamstring injury and it is questionable whether he will be able to make the important match. One of the captains, Tjaronn Chery, has contributed to seven goals for Haifa (2+5) in six Conference League qualifiers.

Slavia’s goals are mostly scored by two strikers. Both Jan Kuchta and Ivan Schranz boast a 7+2 record through all competitions. Alexander Bah is also in excellent form, which he underlined with a goal in Saturday’s game against Liberec.

Slavia is plagued by a large squad of ten players. The mainstays are Jan Bořil, Ondřej Kúdel, Petr Ševčík, Tomáš Holeš and Lukáš Masopust.

Maccabi’s defense is not working too well, getting six goals in the last three games. However, the same can be said about Slavia, who are on an unusually long streak of ten games without a clean sheet.

Considering the significant difference between the quality of the two squads, I think Slavia will win the match. The return of stopper Aiham Ousou adds to the probability.