Can Maccabi Tel Aviv maintain the run of victories without conceding a goal? The 2-0 win over Hapoel Ra’anana was the ninth consecutive match this season in which Maccabi kept a clean sheet, and 10th overall when including the final match last season when they beat Hapoel Beersheba 4-0.

The all-time record in one season is 10 full matches, held by Maccabi Haifa in 1988-89. During that period Haifa were awarded an additional 2-0 technical win over Hapoel Tel Aviv but this has not counted in the string of victories.

In order to overtake Maccabi Haifa’s record, which stands at 1,002 minutes without conceding a goal, Maccabi Tel Aviv will have to keep a clean sheet in the upcoming fixture against Hapoel Haifa and then hold on for at least another 10 minutes against Kiryat Shmona in the next match.

But the task is not going to be easy as Hapoel Haifa is the only current Premier League side who have scored at least one goal against Maccabi in each of their last four meetings.

Overall, there have been 115 meetings between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Haifa, of which Maccabi have won 51, 34 have been draws and Hapoel have won on 30 occasions. Maccabi have scored 177 goals compared to Haifa’s 111 strikes.

Maccabi have hosted Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield 27 times and the record is 15 wins, seven draws and five defeats.

The biggest win was a 7-0 result in 1993-94 when Itzik Zohar netted a hat trick, Avi Nimni added two and Eli Driks and Meir Malika scored one each.

Maccabi’s most prolific scorer against Hapoel Haifa is Rafi Levy with 10 goals, while Shiye Glazer and Avi Nimni have nine each.

Yossele Merimovich, who hit four in the 6-0 win in 1954-55, hold the record for most goals in one match.

Maccabi have a perfect record from the penalty spot against Hapoel Haifa, having netted all 13 spot kicks. The next best record for Maccabi with 100 percent success is seven. This season, Maccabi have been awarded only one penalty in league play, during the opening fixture of the season.

Co-incidentally, this meeting in the 10th round of league action corresponds to meetings against the same opponents in the same round in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Maccabi won on both occasions, after which they won the next six matches.

Matan Hozez, Ruslan Barsky and Dor Peretz are current Maccabi squad members who have previously played for Hapoel Haifa.

Hapoel Haifa coach Haim Silvas has managed to mastermind one win against Maccabi in 11 meetings, which include a draw and nine defeats.

After being picked by fans as Maccabi Tel Aviv’s player of the month for October, Dan Glazer will look to continue his and his teammates’ great recent form as they face Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield on Saturday, kickoff 19:50 in the tenth round of the TASE Premier League.

Glazer’s great form has seen him picked by national team coach Andreas Herzog for the Israel squad for their upcoming fixtures against Poland and North Macedonia and the midfielder said he was thrilled. 

When asked about Maccabi’s opponents on Saturday, Glazer said: “What counts for us is how we approach this game and how we start, I just hope we are able to continue to display our fine form.”

He said the title race at the current stage of the season with Maccabi leading was “interesting” but that Maccabi were looking only at themselves and looking for another win.

“We have a tough game ahead and we will be very happy if we can go into the international break with good vibes so that we can continue the positive momentum we have created.”

He added also that Maccabi had found a way to break down opposition defences.

“I don’t know what our stats are but I can say that we have players with great shooting ability and we display exciting football to set up scoring situations against tight defences, I’m sure we will manage to score more goals as the season progresses.”

The TASE Premier League’s management on Thursday set the dates and times for matches in late December and early January and will see Bnei Yehuda hosting Maccabi Tel Aviv on Tuesday, December 24 at Bloomfield at 20:15 in the 15th round of the league.

The following round of matches will be played on Saturday, Dec. 28 when Maccabi host Hapoel Kfar Sava at Bloomfield at 15:00 but the most intriguing fixture will be at the start of the New Year when Maccabi travel to Sami Ofer stadium where they will be hosted my Maccabi Haifa on Monday, Jan. 6 at 20:15.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s players earned a day off following their 2-0 win over Hapoel Ra’anana on Saturday but on Monday they got back to work at the PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom as they began preparations to face Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield on Saturday, kickoff at 19:50.

Maccabi go into the clash as league leaders with 23 points, two more than second-placed Hapoel Beersheba. They have three consecutive victories under their belts and have gone nine matches this season without conceding a goal.

Haifa will present a tough challenge as they are in good form after themselves having won their last two matches, but with 15 points, they lie in fifth place in the TASE Premier League standings.

Watch our pictures from today’s training session.