Hapoel Be’er Sheva vs Villarreal Match Analysis and Prediction

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Villarreal will make the trip to the Turner Stadium to take on Hapoel Be’er Sheva for their second Group C fixture in the Europa Conference League on Thursday.

While Unai Emery’s side claimed victory in a seven-goal thriller in their opening group match, their Israel counterparts played out a goalless draw last week.

After two successive defeats in the Israeli top flight, Hapoel Be’er Sheva salvaged a point in their opening Europa Conference League group match against Austria Vienna last week.

Elyaniv Barda’s side managed to find their goalscoring touch in the Israeli Premier League last Sunday as they came from behind on two occasions to win 3-2 away to Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Be’er Sheva are now preparing for their first ever encounter in European competition with Group C favourites Villarreal, with their only meeting with Spanish opposition coming back in the 1995-96 UEFA Cup when they suffered a 12-0 aggregate defeat in the first-round tie against Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Villarreal followed up their 4-0 La Liga victory over Elche by scoring four more in their 4-3 three victory over Lech Poznan in the Europa Conference League last week.

After trailing in just the second minute, Villarreal scored three goals before half time, but Poznan restored parity with a second-half brace from Mikael Ishak. Emery’s side were seemingly on course to claim a point until Francis Coquelin scored an 89th-minute winner.

That result saw the Yellow Submarine extend their unbeaten start to the new season to seven matches, but this run has since come to an end as they were beaten 1-0 away at Real Betis in La Liga last weekend.

On a negative note, Villarreal have won just one of their previous four European matches against Israeli opposition and drew their only two away games in 2017 and 2020 against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Hapoel Be’er Sheva vs Villarreal head to head

These two teams have not previously met on any occasion and this will be their first meeting in the Europa Conference League group stages.

Hapoel Be’er Sheva latest home form

Hapoel Be’er Sheva have recently failed to keep a good run of form at home, having lost each of their two most recent matches. They lost 2-1 to Maccabi Haifa in their last home game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored eight goals and conceded seven.

Hapoel Be’er Sheva 2-1 Dinamo Minsk 21/07/22

Hapoel Be’er Sheva 3-1 Lugano 11/08/22

Hapoel Be’er Sheva (P)1-1 Universitatea Craiova 25/08/22

Hapoel Be’er Sheva 1-2 Ashdod 31/08/22

Hapoel Be’er Sheva 1-2 Maccabi Haifa 03/09/22

Hapoel Be’er Sheva latest away form

Hapoel Be’er Sheva have recently been on a good run of form on the road, having been unbeaten in their six most recent matches. They defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 3-2 in their last away game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored 11 goals and conceded three.

Lugano 0-2 Hapoel Be’er Sheva 04/08/22

Universitatea Craiova 1-1 Hapoel Be’er Sheva 18/08/22

Beitar Jerusalem 0-5 Hapoel Be’er Sheva 28/08/22

Austria Vienna 0-0 Hapoel Be’er Sheva 08/09/22

Hapoel Tel Aviv 2-3 Hapoel Be’er Sheva 11/09/22

Villarreal latest home form

Villarreal have recently been on a good run of form at home, having won each of their four most recent matches. They managed to defeat Lech Poznan 4-3 in their last home game in the Europa Conference League. In their last five matches, they have scored 16 goals and conceded eight.

Villarreal 1-2 Real Sociedad 15/05/22

Villarreal 3-1 Levante 03/08/22

Villarreal 4-2 Hajduk Split 18/08/22

Villarreal 4-0 Elche 04/09/22

Villarreal 4-3 Lech Poznan 08/09/22

Villarreal latest away form

Villarreal were beaten 1-0 by Real Betis in their last away game in the league. However, they have recently been on a good run of form on the road, having been unbeaten in their previous 13 games. In their last five matches, they have scored seven goals and conceded just one.

Real Valladolid 0-3 Villarreal 13/08/22

Atletico Madrid 0-2 Villarreal 21/08/22

Hajduk Split 0-2 Villarreal 25/08/22

Getafe 0-0 Villarreal 28/08/22

Real Betis 1-0 Villarreal 11/09/22

Hapoel Be’er Sheva news

Barda decided to rest former Brighton & Hove Albion striker Tomer Hemed last weekend, but he is expected to replace Astrit Selmani in the starting lineup on Thursday.

Left-back Eitan Tibi and Shay Elias are also set to be recalled to the first XI at the expense of Helder Lopes and Eden Shamir respectively.

Villarreal news

Left-back Alberto Moreno remains out for the visitors with a knee injury, while Arnaut Danjuma and Juan Foyth are both doubtful and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.

The likes of Gerard Moreno, Dani Parejo, Etienne Capoue, Pau Torres and Geronimo Rulli are likely to be dropped to the substitutes’ bench.

Prediction and Odds

Unai Emery is set to make several changes to his starting lineup as the set out to claim a rare victory from their Israeli opponents.

However, a close affair could be on the cards on Thursday, but the visitors should still have enough quality in their side to come away with all three points.

Odds: 1 2.30 X 2.05 2 2.22