Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Villarreal predictions and match preview for Thursday’s game in the UEFA Europa League. Read on for the head-to-head and analysis as the top two in this group meet.
- DATE: Thursday 26th November 2020
- KICK-OFF: 19:55 (local time)
- VENUE: Bloomfield
- COMPETITION: UEFA Europa League (Group Stage)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Villarreal Preview
Villarreal travel to Israel on Thursday night in the UEFA Europa League. Victory would seal progress into the knockout stage, almost certainly as group winners with the Yellow Submarine having not dropped any points so far. Maccabi Tel Aviv are in 2nd place though and this might just be the toughest group fixture for Unai Emery’s side.
The former Arsenal and Sevilla boss, who has such a formidable record in this competition, will certainly rotate his side here. The hard work has already been done in what is not a difficult group and he’ll want to conserve energy for a big league game away to current leaders Real Sociedad at the weekend.
Overall it has been a really strong start to the campaign for Villarreal. While they did some good business in the summer, we might have expected a few more problems with the departed Santi Cazorla having been so important for them over the past two years. However it’s just one defeat in 13 games for Emery’s men so far and they’ve been dominant in this group, firing in 12 goals in their 3 matches including a 4-0 home win against Maccabi in the reverse fixture.
The Israeli outfit are still best placed to secure 2nd place in this group and they could take a big leap towards the knockout stage with a surprise victory here. They’ve won their two league games since that defeat in Spain but are still only languishing down in 8th place in their domestic league having failed to win any of their opening four matches.
Head to Head
- Villarreal were easy 4-0 winners in the reverse fixture three weeks ago with Carlos Bacca scoring twice.
- The sides’ only previous meetings came in the 2017/18 Europa League group stage.
- They drew 0-0 in Israel while Maccabi won 1-0 at the Ceramica.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Villarreal Predictions
Score Prediction: Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-3 Villarreal
Villarreal are likely to rotate their team again and should be pushed more closely this time around by Maccabi but the gulf in class will remain. The Yellow Submarine do have genuine depth in some key areas of the pitch and even a much changed XI from the one that held Real Madrid at the weekend, ought to be capable of getting the job done here.
UEFA Europa League Betting Tips (18+)
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