With the Israeli Premier League play-offs less than a week away, this is as good a time as any to have a look at the league season up till now – by the numbers
In 26 league matches, Maccabi Tel Aviv have harvested an impressive 66 points, 7 more than in the pre-playoff season last year.
7 points also separate league leaders Maccabi from their nearest rivals Hapoel Beer Sheva in the Israeli Premier league table. Last year that margin was 10 points, and second in command were Maccabi Haifa.
Maccabi Haifa are just one of 8 Premier League sides that Maccabi beat both home and away this season.
Only 2 clubs have succeeded in beating the reigning champions this season – Hapoel Beer Sheva and Ironi Kiryat Shmona. Maccabi finished last year's pre-playoff season with 5 losses.
5 goals are the maximum number of goals scored in any one of Maccabi Tel Aviv's pre-playoff matches this season. The league leaders lost only one of them, 3-2 to Hapoel Beer Sheva. In three others Maccabi triumphed – 4-1 against Bnei Sakhnin, 3-2 against Hapoel Tel Aviv and 5-0 against Hapoel Acre.
Hapoel Acre are one of 4 sides that failed to score against Maccabi Tel Aviv. Only three sides succeeded in scoring 3 or more goals in Maccabi's league encounters – Hapoel Beer Sheva (4), Ironi Kiryat Shmona and Hapoel Haifa (3 each).
Midfielder Eran Zahavi is Maccabi's only player to have scored a hat-trick in the pre-playoff season, and that in the very last match against Hapoel Tel Aviv. He also has a brace to his credit, as does striker Rade Prica, against Maccabi Haifa.
Rade Prica is one of only 3 Maccabi Tel Aviv players to have seen red in the pre-playoff season. The other 2 are defender Yoav Ziv and team captain Sheran Yeini.
Sheran Yeini also holds the team's season record so far for yellow cards, 7 all told. In all, 14 Maccabi players have been cautioned in the pre-playoff season, averaging 4 yellows each.
14 Maccabi Tel Aviv players scored a total of 58 goals in the pre-playoff season. Apart from the team's 2 goalkeepers, only 6 on-field players have yet to score their maiden goal this season.
6 was Maccabi Tel Aviv's longest run of clean sheets in the pre-playoff season, as well as the longest run of matches in which the team conceded any goals at all. That run came to an end in the first Tel Aviv derby, when Maccabi beat their municipal rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0.
Maccabi won 3 other matches 1-0.The most popular result of the pre-playoff season was 2-0, 6 of the team's encounters ended with that scoreline. In ten matches the team scored 3 goals or more.
10 league matches still remain to be played until the 2013/14 season Israeli Premier League champions emerge. Maybe less. Where numbers are concerned, you can never really tell.
