Israel are set to take on Belgium on Sunday, 17 November in a match that will be played in Budapest due to the ongoing conflict in Israel.
Neither of these team have a chance of making it through the quarter-finals of the competition now but relegation still has to be settled.
Israel need to win this one by three goals in order to leapfrog Belgium and earn themselves a playoff to stay in League A for the next edition of the Nations League in two years time.
How the bookies view it: The visitors start as big favourites
Despite having a poor campaign, Belgium are still being backed by the bookies to win this one comfortably. Betfred have priced a Belgium win as short as 2/5 while a victory for Israel as been priced at 13/2. The draw, which would do nothing for Israel here, has been priced at 4/1.
Recent head-to-head: Belgian dominance
Belgium's odds of 2/5 to win here look borderline generous when you look at they have historically performed against Israel. The Red Devils have won all five of their previous matches against Israel with the most recent clash coming just two months ago. On that occasion, Belgium ran out as 3-1 winners thanks to a goal from Youri Tielemans and a double from Kevin de Bruyne
Players to watch: Can Openda step out of the Lukaku shadow?
Earlier in the week against Italy, Belgium lined up with both Lois Openda and Romelu Lukaku in the starting XI and considering they have nothing really to lose here (unless they end up losing by three goals or more), Domenico Tedesco should elect to roll with the same system again to see if he can the pair playing well together.
Lukaku is Belgium's all-time leading goalscorer with 85 goals to his name and is unlikely to stop playing for his country when he is this close to hitting a century. As a result, the younger Openda is going to have to get used to him being around for a while yet so the best solution could be to get them playing together.
So far in his international career, Openda has struggled to replicate his club which is certainly becoming a concern that he has surpassed 25 caps. He only has three goals to his name for Belgium and that will need to rise soon if Tedesco is to keep faith in him. Can he grab a goal or too in Budapest on Sunday night?
Predicted line-ups
Belgium are missing several important players for this one including Manchester duo, Jeremy Doku and Kevin de Bruyne. Israel's biggest absentee is their first-choice goalkeeper, Omri Glazer, who has now been out for more than a month with a muscle problem.
Israel: Peretz – Dasa, Nachimas, Shlomo, Goldberg, Haziza – Solomon, Jaber, Fani, Gloukh – David
Belgium: Casteels – Castagne, Debast, Faes, Theate – Onana, Mangala – Lukebakio, Trossard, Openda – Lukaku
Anything else catch the eye?
Four of Israel's five matches in the Nations League have produced three or more goals while the same can be said for three of Belgium's five. Over 2.5 goals to be scored on Sunday night has been priced at 8/15 by Betfred.
This UEFA Nations League match between Israel and Belgium will be played on Nov 17, 2024 and kick off at 19:45. Check below for our tipsters best Israel vs Belgium prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
