Maccabi Tel Aviv vs RFS prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-12-11 20:00.
[p]Unable to play in their home country due to the ongoing war with Hamas, Israeli Premier League champions Maccabi Tel Aviv recorded their first win of this UEFA Europa League (UEL) campaign last time out away against Beşiktaş in another game played on neutral turf (3-1). The Yellows had lost all four of their previous UEL games prior, but are now back in with a chance of finishing in the league phase’s 24 qualification spots.[/p]
[p]Sat two points outside of those qualification spots pre-round, Maccabi now go in search of back-to-back wins in the UEL for the first time since October 2020. Žarko Lazetić’s side are now unbeaten in five games across all competitions (W3, D2) and will hope to continue rebuilding their goal difference in the UEL having conceded 2+ goals in each league phase game prior to that first victory last time out in Europe.[/p]
[p]Belgrade is the city which will host Thursday night’s clash with RFS, whose UEL main draw debut has been a challenging one so far. One of just five teams still without a victory in the league phase (D2, L3), the Virslīga champions are still chasing a first win in the main draw of any UEFA competition, and this will be their 12th attempt having lost seven of the previous 11 (D4).[/p]
[p]The Latvian outfit have created an uphill task for themselves too often already in this campaign, conceding a goal in the opening 15 minutes in three of their five league phase games. But despite how damning all of those statistics appear, draws against both Galatasaray and Anderlecht, both of whom start the round in the UEL’s top-five, show they should never be written off.[/p]
[p]Key battle: Osher Davida has registered a direct goal involvement in three of his four league phase appearances (G1, A2) while Jānis Ikaunieks has been involved in three of RFS’ four goals so far in the league phase (G1, A2), with two of those involvements coming in the first half.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Israeli clubs are unbeaten in all seven games against clubs from Latvia (W5, D2) in UEFA competitions (including qualifiers).[/p]
[p][i]Written by Ben Olawumi[/i][/p]