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Israel host Czech Republic in their upcoming UEFA Nations League fixture at The Sammy Ofer Stadium on Sunday night.
The hosts saw their Euro 2021 qualifying run come to an end after Scotland defeated them on penalties in their Euro qualification playoff semi-finals at Hampden Park on Thursday.
The Czech Republic saw their entire first team missing out in their previous Nations League fixture against Scotland, due to COVID-19 concerns, and suffered a 2-1 defeat at home last month.
Lokomotiva recorded a comfortable 2-1 win over Cyprus in their most recent international friendly but three of the players that travelled to the AEK Arena tested positive for COVID-19 and will not travel with the squad for the game.
Both teams will be looking to record a win in the weekend clash and get their UEFA Nations League campaign back on track.
Israel vs Czech Republic Head-to-Head
Israel and Czech Republic have only clashed twice before their weekend showdown in the Nations League, both of those meetings were international friendlies.
Those fixtures took place in Czech Republic and the hosts came out victorious on both occasions, inflicting 2-1 and 4-1 losses on their opponents. This will be their first meeting in over eight years and the first one in Israel. Heading into the fixture, the visitors who have enjoyed a better run of form.
Israel form guide: D-D-D-L-L
Czech Republic form guide: W-L-W-L-W
Israel vs Czech Republic Team News
For the home side, there are not a lot of injury concerns for the manager but Willi Ruttensteiner will be without defender Nir Britton, who played the entire 120 minutes of the gruelling loss against Scotland. He was not fully fit heading into the game and may not feature for the next two Nations League fixtures.
Midfielder Eyal Golasa picked up an injury in the 101st minute of that game. The full extent of the injury is still unknown, but he appears certain to be ruled out of the game. Apart from that, Ruttensteiner has a match-fit but exhausted squad at his disposal.
Injured: Nir Britton (fitness), Eyal Golasa (undisclosed)
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Czech Republic had to play with staff members and uncapped players in their Nations League fixture against Scotland due to multiple players testing positive for COVID-19 and again, they will be three players short in their visit to Israel due to further positive tests for those players.
The three who tested positive were not identified and were in isolation. The Czech team says 16 others have to be re-tested after the results of their tests were inconclusive.
Striker Patrik Schick is out injured for the Czechs as he picked up an injury in the 16th minute in Bayer Leverkusen's 1-1 draw against Stuttgart last week.
Injured: Patrik Schick (thigh)
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Israel vs Czech Republic Predicted XI
Israel predicted XI (4-4-2): Ofir Marciano; Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Sheran Yeini, Hatem Abd Elhamed; Bibras Natkho, Dan Glazer, Ilay Elmkies, Manor Solomon; Eran Zahavi, Moanes Dabour
Czech Republic predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Tomas Vaclik; Pavel Kaderabek, Ondrej Kudela, David Hovorka, Filip Novak; Tomas Soucek, Alex Kral; Lukáš Masopust, Vladimír Darida, Lukáš Provod; Matej Vydra
Israel vs Czech Republic Prediction
Israel are coming off a tense 120-minute game against Scotland and are winless in their last five encounters, so they might struggle against the Czechs, who look like the better side on paper.
The Czech Republic won their first Nations League game 3-1 against Slovakia and suffered a narrow 2-1 loss against Scotland. We think that the visitors are more likely to win the game on Sunday, albeit with a narrow margin, as they have had an extra day to prepare for the clash.
Prediction: Israel 1-2 Czech Republic
