The knockout stages of the Europa Conference League start on Thursday with PSV Eindhoven hosting Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv. The kick-off is at 17.45.
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PSV dropped into the Europa Conference League after they finished third in their Europa League group behind AS Monaco and Real Sociedad. Roger Schmidt’s side will now be hoping to go far in the first year of the Europa Conference League.
After back to back losses in the Eredivisie to AZ and Ajax, PSV’s form has improved recently and they go into Thursday’s clash on the back of a 5-0 win against Vitesse Arnhem.
Maccabi tel Aviv reached the knockout round of the competition after finishing second in their group behind LASK Linz. They are currently third in their league but head to Eindhoven on a four-game winning streak.
Team News
PSV go into the game without suspended trio Olivier Boscagli, Ibrahim Sangaré and Carlos Vinícius, while Maximilian Romero, Jenson Seet, Ryan Thomas and André Ramalho are all injured.
Armando Obispo and Jordan Teze are likely to start in defence, while it remains to be seen whether Schmidt makes changes or goes with his strongest possible line-up.
Possible PSV line-up: Drommel, Mwene, Teze, Obispo, Mauro, Veerman, Gutierrez, Gotze, Madueke, Gakpo, Zahavi
Former Heracles Almelo star Brandley Kuwas is in the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad and he could face PSV. Former NAC Breda strike Stipe Perica should start upfront.
Possible Maccabi tel Aviv line-up: Peretz; Geraldes, Nachmias, Saborit, Davidzada; Shamir, Glazer, Kanichowsky; Biton; Jovanovic, Perica
Odds
PSV 29/100 Draw 4/1 Maccabi Tel Aviv 10/1
PSV looking to take a comfortable win to Israel
PSV go into this game as big favourites and in good form with the fit-again Noni Madueke starring in the wins over NAC Breda and Vitesse recently.
This is a competition that PSV will feel that they can go far in and they should have too much in attack for the Israeli side, who do have some dangerous players. PSV fans will be expecting to see their side comfortably coming through the first leg to take a nice lead to Israel next week.
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