Hapoel Be'er Sheva will need to pick up a positive result when they host Lech Poznan at Turner Stadium on Thursday if they are going to have any chance of making the playoffs for the knockout stages.
The visitors are in a better position in the group, two points ahead of their opponents in this fixture, currently sitting in second place, and with a win in this fixture, the playoff place will be near enough secured.
Match preview
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Hapoel will more than likely need to win this game if they are going to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the playoffs, and to do so they will need to create better chances and have a shot on target, which they failed to do in the 0-0 draw in the previous meeting.
Elyaniv Barda's side also picked up a point in a 2-2 draw against Hapoel Haifa at the weekend, ending their run of three consecutive league victories, but with good spirit shown as they came from behind twice.
Rotem Hatuel, the only scorer in the Europa Conference League so far for Hapoel, also scored the goal to help them draw their league fixture, and the midfielder will be hoping that his goal on the weekend will give him the confidence to find the net again in this crucial game.
The Israeli side will be trying to keep their hopes alive of reaching the knockout stages of a European competition for the first time since 2016-17, when they lost in the round of 32 in the Europa League against Besiktas.
After creating all the chances in their previous meeting, Lech Poznan will be hoping that they can find the back of the net in this fixture in order to put themselves in a controlling position to finish second in the group.
A 1-0 win against Radomiak Radom in the Polish league extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to six games, their last defeat being the 4-3 loss in this competition to Villarreal, who currently sit top of the group with a perfect record.
Heorhii Tsitaishvili scored the winner in their league fixture and now provides yet another midfield option who can score to manager John van den Brom, with Michal Skoras and Kristoffer Velde both being on target twice so far in the Conference League.
On the defensive front, Lech Poznan are on a run of four consecutive clean sheets, even though Scottish defender Barry Douglas had to come off in the first half in the previous fixture between the two sides and did not feature on the weekend.
A victory in this fixture will put the Polish side in prime position for the playoffs, which could lead to their first knockout appearance since 2010-11 in the Europa League, where they got out of a challenging group featuring both Manchester City and Juventus, but then lost in the round of 16 against Braga.
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Team News
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Hapoel Be'er Sheva will potentially be without defender Eyad Abu Abaid after he was substituted at half time and was not part of the matchday squad for their weekend league fixture.
This would potentially lead to a change in system from a three-at-the-back formation to a four-at-the-back with Helder Lopes playing as a regular left-back rather than as one of the wing-backs.
Lech Poznan have a similar issue at left-back, with Barry Douglas coming off early in the last fixture and also missing their league game, but their change will not see a change in system with Pedro Robocho likely to come into the starting lineup.
After his goal on the weekend, Tsitaishvili could also join the starting 11, with him most likely to replace Filip Marchwinski, who has yet to score in the competition, unlike the other two advanced midfielders in the team.
Hapoel Be'er Sheva possible starting lineup:
Glazer; Lopes, Vitor, Tibi, Dadya; Elias, Yosefi, Hatuel, Bareiro; Hemed, Ansah
Lech Poznan possible starting lineup:
Bednarek; Rebocho, Milic, Dagerstal, Pereira; Murawski, Karlstrom, Velde, Tsitaishvili, Skoras; Ishak
We say: Hapoel Be'er Sheva 0-1 Lech Poznan
Like the last fixture between the two sides, we would expect this game to be tight, but with more attacking threat and an array of potential scorers, we expect that Lech Poznan will find a way to score.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
