Maccabi Tel Aviv vs AZ predictions, betting tips and match preview

This is a make or break week for these two sides in the Europa League. Both Maccabi Tel Aviv and AZ are outside of the top two in their group. While Zenit are unsurprisingly top, these two sides are sat behind Dundalk in the race for second. Can either of these sides rally in the second half of group fixtures and pip the Irish champions to qualify for the last 32?

AZ head to Israel knowing that they’d be out of contention for top spot with a defeat here. The Dutch side are bottom with just a single point from their three games. They’ve had a really poor return so far, and this is a group they were widely expected to qualify from. They still have a chance of making the next round, they just need to kick in to gear quickly.

Things have been looking up for AZ recently. They’ve won their last two games, which should send them here with plenty of confidence. However, they did lose to Maccabi last time out, and now they face a tough trip to Israel. They can’t even afford to come here and play for a point, the visitors need to go on the attack, or risk losing out on progress to the next round.

At least AZ can be pretty confident of getting a goal here, given Maccabi’s poor defensive record. They conceded four at this ground to Zenit in their only home fixture in the competition so far. The Israelis have failed to keep a clean sheet in the group stage, conceding six in total so far.

They concede 1.25 goals per home game in their league, while they’ve conceded 14.7 shots a match in the Europa League so far. They are far from a solid unit at the back, and they tend to get involved in quite high scoring fixtures, with seven of their last eight Europa League games seeing over 2.5 goals.

Maccabi have conceded in 75% of their home league games, so the visitors have a chance going forward. AZ will need to do better than they did at home to the Israelis. Given that the hosts come in here on the back of consecutive 2-0 defeats, the Dutch side should be able to impose themselves on this game. With the home side looking shaky at the back, we’re going with both teams to score here, which is priced at 7/10 with bet365.