Week 17 features a match on Sat Jan 7th, where Hapoel Hadera and Hapoel Haifa will play a match in Haifa in a clash of the Ligat ha’Al. The game day is forecasted to be a cloudy and cool day, with daytime temperatures of only 16 degrees, a perfect day for football. 8th placed Hapoel Haifa is fresh off their 2-1 win against Bnei Sakhnin. Liran Serdal struck first for Hapoel Haifa in the 36th minute on a feed from Mohammed Kamara, then Guy Melamed tied it up for Bnei Sakhnin in the 68th minute on a feed from Taleb Tawatha. Hapoel Haifa looks to improve on their recent performance, having lost 4 of their last 10, while hapoel Hadera sits at 5th place in the tables. In their last match they recorded a 2-2 draw against Maccabi Bnei Raina. Shlomi Azulay struck first for Maccabi Bnei Raina in the 7th minute on a feed from Shalata, then Richard Boateng added another in the 1st minute of the second half’s stoppage time on a feed from Osama Khalaila . Hapoel Hadera is looking for direction having 3 win and 3 losses in their last 10 matches.
In their last match together, in Winner Stadium, Hapoel Hadera and Hapoel Haifa battled to a 1-1 draw. Alfred Stephen struck first for Hapoel Hadera in the 56th minute on a feed from Samy Bourard, but Liran Serdal got the equalizer for Hapoel Haifa in the 77th minute squeezing out at least the one point for Hapoel Haifa.
For Hapoel Hadera, their top scorers are Eyal Chen and Niv Gutlib, each having 2 goals in their last five matches. Arel has been the most prolific scorer on Hapoel Haifa in his last 5 matches with 2 goals.