- Hapoel have won two, drawn two and lost one of their last five matches.
- GKS have won one, drawn two and lost two of their last five fixtures.
- Hapoel have scored just two goals in their four home matches to date.
Hapoel and GKS to go to the wire
Israelis Hapoel Tel-Aviv are 1.98 favourites to beat GKS Dospel Katowice, the Polish visitors are 3.6 and the draw is 3.5 ahead of Thursday's UEFA Conference League Qualification 2026 clash.
Both sets of odds seem a bit too short for a game that looks like it will be cagey and hard-fought. Hapoel have had an inconsistent start to the season, winning three, drawing three and losing four of their ten games in all competitions, but their form is good enough to be optimistic about their chances in this fixture.
The last three results in the order they occurred have been a 2-1 away defeat to MSK Zilina in this competition, a 2-1 away loss to Wisla Krakow in Ekstraklasa 2026/2027 and a 3-1 home win over MSK Zilina in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League Qualification fixture. Elyaniv Barda has given his side a structured shape, a compact back four and a preference for controlling the ball in the centre of the park.
GKS come into the game off the back of a 2-0 win over PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, but that was in the home fixture. They drew 2-2 away to the same side earlier today and have gone 0-4-2 in their six away fixtures across all competitions, making them hard to beat, but also win-shy.
Rafal Gorak has kept them on a direct and physical path since he took over in 2019, using fast transitions to get forward quickly, hitting wide with the ball and targeting second balls.
Adam Zrelak leads the line for GKS and with one goal in two UCLQ appearances looks like their best chance of getting through in this contest.
Emmanuel Boateng is the main threat for Hapoel with two goals in two UCLQ fixtures and the two teams have different rhythms which could make for an interesting game on Thursday. GKS will look to get on the break and hit the game quickly, while Hapoel will want to slow things down, press in a midfield block and use their attacking midfielders to create overloads in the midfield lane.
The best pick in this game is for Hapoel to edge it in a low-scoring fixture, but the market is close enough to lean towards a BTTS/US 2.5 goals pick at 1.7 and 1.93.
