Preview: Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs. Nice - prediction, team news, lineups

Hapoel Be'er Sheva will welcome Nice to the HaMoshava Stadium on Thursday evening for a dead rubber in the Europa League.

Both teams have already been eliminated from the tournament and are simply playing for pride in this one, with Slavia Prague and Bayer Leverkusen out of sight in Group C.

Match preview

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Hapoel Be'er Sheva have held their own in the Europa League this season, but it was always going to be an improbable task for the Israeli champions to push for a knockout berth.

Yossi Abukasis witnessed his side get off to the perfect start in Group C with a 3-1 win over table-toppers Slavia Prague, but Be'er Sheva have failed to take any points continentally since then and are rock bottom of the group after five matches.

This week's hosts have conceded eight goals in two matches to the freescoring Leverkusen and were unable to replicate their performance against Slavia on the opening matchday last week, with the Czech champions cruising to a 3-0 win on their own turf over Abukasis's men.

However, Be'er Sheva managed to avoid going 10 games without a win in all competitions as they scraped a narrow 2-1 win at Beitar Jerusalem at the weekend thanks to a brace from Josue.

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Nice will take to the pitch in Europe for the first time under their new manager Adrian Ursea, with Patrick Vieira sacked last week after overseeing a five-game losing run across all competitions.

Ursea managed to halt that dismal spell of form at the weekend as Nice played out a goalless draw with Reims in the top flight, and a Europa League trip to Petah Tikva will be a true test of Ursea's managerial credentials.

Like their opponents, Nice have only managed to register a solitary victory in Group C, and the 15 goals that Les Aiglons have shipped is the third highest in the tournament behind Ludogorets Razgrad and Celtic.

Ursea will hope that his side's first clean sheet in five is a sign of things to come, although both Nice and Reims recording a shut-out may have been down to the horrendously foggy conditions rather than any solid defensive work.

Nice's only victory of the group stage so far came in the visit of Be'er Sheva back in October, with the highly-rated Amine Gouiri scoring the only goal of the game in that tie.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Europa League form: WWLLLL Hapoel Be'er Sheva form (all competitions): DLLDLW

Nice Europa League form: LWLLL Nice form (all competitions): LLLLLD

Team News

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Be'er Sheva centre-backs Miguel Vitor and Amit Bitton are both still recovering from serious injuries, although the former is not thought to be too far away from a return to action.

However, Bitton is likely to spend another few months on the sidelines with a cruciate ligament rupture, with Gal Levi also sharing the same fate.

Abukasis will no doubt look to freshen things up as he focuses on turning his side's fortunes around in the league, with the likes of Elton Acolatse and Dudu Twitto potentially in line for starts, but Mariano Bareiro is suspended for an accumulation of bookings.

Nice's Gouiri already boasts four goals in this season's tournament and could be set for another start up top, with Kasper Dolberg still struggling with a groin problem.

Youcef Atal, Pierre Lees Melou and Myziane Maolida are all nursing various injuries too, but Morgan Schneiderlin and Hicham Boudaoui are available after missing last week's defeat to Leverkusen through suspension.

However, both midfielders started the draw with Reims and fresh legs would not go amiss here, meaning that Robson Bambu, Khephren Thuram and Alexis Claude-Maurice could all line up from the first whistle.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva possible starting lineup: Rahamim; Dadia, Tzedek, Taha, Twitto; Keltjens, Meli; Sallalich, Josue, Acolatse; Varenne

Nice possible starting lineup: Benitez; Pelmard, Bambu, Daniliuc; Lotomba, Thuram, Trouillet, Coly; Ndoye, Gouiri, Claude-Maurice

We say: Hapoel Be'er Sheva 0-0 Nice

Be'er Sheva and Nice have already been sent packing and will no doubt just be focused on improving their league positions, so fans may not get the best entertainment from this dead rubber. No team wants to finish bottom of the group, but Nice are still finding their feet under Ursea and the hosts have hardly been in better form themselves, so we can see this tie ending in a drab goalless stalemate.

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