Tottenham Hotspur – Maccabi Haifa
Tottenham Hotspur hosts Maccabi Haifa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a game from the playoffs of Europa League. For both teams a win here would mean qualification for the competition’s group stage. Let’s preview it.
Tottenham started the 2020/21 season with a defeat against Everton in the Premier League, but since then they are unbeaten in four consecutive games in all competitions. In two of them they achieved wins in Europa League.
In the third qualifying round of the competition Tottenham traveled to North Macedonia to face Shkendija. Erik Lamela opened the score for Spurs, but Valjmir Nafiu equalised for the Macedonians. Tottenham needed two goals from Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane in order to eliminate their opponent.
On Tuesday, just two days before, Spurs will face Chelsea in a match from the Carabao Cup. It’d be interesting to see how the manager Jose Mourinho will deal with playing two matches in the matter of two days. Most certainly he will be making some rotations of the line-up.
Maccabi Haifa had a very difficult task in the third round, but they still found a way to progress in the competition. The Israeli team traveled to Russia to face Rostov and achieved a 2-1 win away from home. Rostov opened the score after just 9 minutes of playing, but Maccabi turned the game around with goals from Rukavytsya and Abu Fani. This is how they reached the playoffs of the competition.
In the Israeli Ligat Ha’al Maccabi Haifa have played two games so far and they are leading the standings with 6 points.
We expect to see Tottenham Hotspur serious about reaching the group stage of Europa League. This competition is not a priority for the English club, but it’d be good to qualify for the next stage. They must be careful with Maccabi Haifa, though – the Israeli team proved its class during their visit to Russia.