Israel vs North Macedonia Predictions

When they host Macedonia on Thursday evening, Israel will be looking to remain in 2^nd place in Group G, while the visitors will be hoping to move closer to the coveted top two.

Despite being in what appears to be a tricky group, Israel have made an encouraging start to qualifying in terms of results. They’ve won two, lost one and drawn one, which has allowed Andi Herzog’s men to occupy a lofty 2^nd position.

Although they’ve got a respectable seven points to show for their efforts over the first four match-days, Israel haven’t exactly performed all that well in Group G. On match-day one, as they created little and ended the game with an expected goal difference of -0.99, they were fortunate to draw with Slovenia at home, while they were also fortunate to get the better of Austria on match-day two. On that occasion, Herzog’s men once again struggled to match their opponents in terms of creativity, as they created 1.43 expected goals for and surrendered a rather hefty 2.67.

At times, such as during their rather comfortable win over Latvia, Israel have looked useful, though every time they’ve come up against a side with something to offer going forward, they’ve looked both very shaky at the back and lacking in forward quality.

As things stand, North Macedonia are three points behind Israel, but the visitors will probably fancy themselves to get a result at Turner Stadium.

Much as Thursday’s hosts did, Macedonia took a point off Slovenia, but they did so in far better fashion, as they conceded only 0.97 expected goals and ended the game with an expected goal difference of -0.37. The visitors also offered much more going forward when beating Latvia. On that occasion, North Macedonia created a whopping 3.94 expected goals for. Against Latvia, Israel could only muster 1.05 expected goals for.

In the betting, the hosts come into this game as red-hot favourites, though it’s easy to feel that this is an overstatement. At the prices, ‘North Macedonia Draw No Bet’ makes lots of appeal. The visitors, who’re averaging 1.36 expected goals for, have offered more going forward than Israel, who’re currently averaging 0.89 expected goals for, while they also created a better impression that then Israelis against both Latvia and Slovenia. All things considered, North Macedonia look slightly overpriced and are thus worth backing to get a positive result in Be’er Sheva.

Those looking for the ‘Correct Score’ might try a 1-0 win for the visitors, who if repeating their antics in Slovenia ought to hold a limited home side at bay before coming up with the goods at the other end.