H2H: Villarreal vs Maccabi Tel Aviv – Prediction (Europa League

H2H: Villarreal v Tel Aviv – Comparison.

No player has scored more goals than Villarreal super-sub Paco Alcácer’s four in the UEL group stage this term, and that’s despite him never coming on until at least the 70th minute. Yonatan Cohen netted last time out and in Maccabi’s UEL opener – his team have won 13 of the last 14 games in which he’s scored. Unai Emery has been in charge of a record-breaking 81 UEL games (group stage to final), and has won this tournament three times as a coach.

Villarreal Insights.

A 2-0 HT/FT win last time out put Villarreal third in the La Liga (LL) table (W4, D3, L1), with new boss Unai Emery’s first eight league games in charge yielding the third-best start of any new Villarreal manager in their first eight LL fixtures. Furthermore, with two wins by a 2+ goal margin this UEFA Europa League (UEL) group stage bringing their historic UEL goal tally to 132 – the highest in the competition’s history – Villarreal’s short odds look justified here. The hosts have won five straight competitive home games, despite conceding before HT in three, and have an impressive 16 victories across 22 previous UEL group stage home matches (D3, L3) which has helped them progress on all seven occasions they’ve appeared at this stage.

Tel Aviv Insights.

Villarreal met Maccabi Tel Aviv in the group stage back in 2017/18 and failed to beat them home or away (D1, L1). That’ll give the 23-time Israeli champions hope, and with two wins from two in the UEL group stage so far, optimistic fans do have reason to believe another upset is possible, even if they’ve failed to score first for four straight Israeli top-flight games (D3, L1). Maccabi’s away record in the competition proper makes for decent reading though (W4, D2, L7), however two opening goals from their last nine UEL away matches shows they don’t start well on the road.