Maccabi Petah Tikva v Braga

Maccabi Petah Tikva vs Braga Preview

Maccabi Petah Tikva find themselves chasing down a two-goal deficit against their Portuguese counterparts, Braga, following last week's 1st leg 2-0 loss at the Estádio Municipal de Braga and not only that, the Israeli hosts will also be looking to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat on the trot in all competitions, while Braga know they just need to avoid defeat here in this return leg at the HaMoshava Stadium to progress through to the 3rd qualifying round of this season's competition.

Having been handed defeats by CSKA Sofia (pre-season friendly) and a 2-0 loss in the Israeli Super Cup to Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Petah Tikva will be desperate to produce a much better showing on home soil on Thursday night and a return to their previous form which saw Dan Romann's side put together a five-match unbeaten sequence in all competitions.

Four wins within these previous five games resulted in victories in the State Cup for Maccabi Petah Tikva against the likes of Hapoel Naf HaGalil and Hapoel Be'er Sheva along with domestic top flight wins in the Israeli Ligat Ha'al over the likes of Hapoel Hadera and Hapoel Petah Tikva respectively.

The hosts for the most part have performed reasonably well though on home soil as Maccabi Petah Tikva have lost just three of their previous 11 home games whilst picking up eight wins in the process.

Braga's 2-0 win in last week's 1st leg of this Europa League tie against Maccabi Petah Tikva extended the Portuguese club's unbeaten run to three games and became a second win in three for the visitors ahead of this upcoming trip to the HaMoshava Stadium on Thursday night.

The new Portuguese top flight season has not yet started so Braga have been playing a number of pre-season friendlies in the interim which have been pretty successful as the visitors have lost just once in their previous five friendlies.

That loss came in the form of a 2-0 defeat at home to Moreirense but three wins against Stade-Lausanne-Ouchy, Lausanne Sport and Anderlecht along with last week's 1st leg win will give Braga plenty of reasons to be confident about their chances of progressing through to the 3rd qualifying round of this competition.

In addition, Braga have lost just once in their last nine outings on the road overall which also includes picking up seven wins, so Daniel Sousa's side look the more likely to come out on top in this 2nd leg tie.

Maccabi Petah Tikva v Braga Verdict

Four out of Braga's last nine away games have seen the visitors keep clean sheets and another shut-out could be on the cards here on Thursday night as the Portuguese club close in on a place in the next qualifying round.

Therefore, our main bet will be BTTS No @ 1.83

Other side bets worth considering:

Braga win & BTTS No @ 2.20

Correct Score: Braga 2-0 @ 7.00