The third edition of the Europa Conference League continues this Thursday with the playoffs back for the second time where Maccabi Haifa and Gent will take on one another at the Sammy Ofer Stadium.
As per usual, Haifa are top of the division in the Israeli Premier League with the side now sitting two points clear of rivals Maccabi Tel-Aviv. Dean David was also back amongst the goals last weekend, as he netted once more in the 2-0 win over Beitar Jerusalem. The club also come into this game having also beaten Tel-Aviv within the past two weeks, where David netted once again. Lorenco Simic is another name who should feature here.
On the other hand to the impressive results and two clean sheets on the domestic front, they were also beaten by Tel-Aviv in the Toko Cup Ligat Al final on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
However, back in the Israeli Premier League, the club head into this game with 15 wins from 21 games, two losses and four draws put together. This sees them with a 47-goal margin in the goals for column, while they've also put together the best defensive record with 15 finishes too.
As for Gent, they lost once again last time out with a sloss to Cercle Brugge coming in after a defeat to Anderlecht and a loss to STVV. The Belgian Pro League giants are now in sixth and a stunning 20 points adrift of the league leaders, Union Saint-Gilloise; a crazy tally given how they won the regular season last time out.
In fact, given how they also suffered a draw to Westerlo at home after a 2-2 draw with them at home in late January and lost to Mechelen before that, it now means a six-game winless run since beating CFR Cluj, as they were also beaten by Club Brugge in the Belgian Cup quarter-finals.
In total, the club come into this game having won only 10 of the 25 games in the Belgian Pro League, and with 31 goals scored, only STVV and Standard Liege have let in more goals than them this season.