Wolves ready for tricky Olympiacos test
Olympiacos FC vs Wolverhampton - 12/03/2020
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Wolverhampton Wanderers travel to the Karaiskakis Stadium on Thursday to face Olympiacos in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie.
After dropping down from the Champions League, Olympiacos saw off Arsenal in the previous round to book their place in the 16.
The Gunners beat Olympiacos on the first leg. But a dramatic second leg saw the Greek side progress thanks to Youssef El-Arabi's late strike deep into extra time.
Olympiacos come into this game on the back of a Greek Cup semi-final defeat to PAOK. However, Pedro Martins’ side remain seven points clear of their rivals at the top of the Super League.
Martins’ men are unbeaten in the Greek top-flight this season – winning 20 and drawing six of their 26 league games this term.
Meanwhile, Wolves finished second in their Europa League group – one point behind group winner Braga and nine ahead of third-place Slovan Bratislava.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side lost just one of their six games in Group K and hammered Turkish club Besiktas 4-0 on Matchday 6.
Wolves claimed another 4-0 victory in their next game, thrashing Spanish side Espanyol in the first leg of their Round of 32 tie. Espanyol beat Wolves 3-2 in the second leg, but the damage had already been done.
Top Trends
- There are no losses for Olympiakos Pireus in 6 of their most recent 7 home games (Europa League)
- Over 2.5 goals have been seen in 6 of Wolverhampton's last 7 away matches in Europa League
- Olympiakos Pireus have won by 2+ goals 4 of their last 7 home matches in Europa League
- Wolverhampton have a good record of 12 undefeated games of their last 14 encounters in Europa League
Domestically, a five-game unbeaten run has guided Wolves to sixth in the Premier League – two points shy of fifth-place Manchester United and five points outside the top four.
Nuno’s men put three past both Norwich and Tottenham in recent wins, but a goalless draw with struggling Brighton last weekend halted the team’s progress somewhat.
Only Basel have won more games than the English side in the Europa League this season, while no other team has scored more goals than Wolves.
Having said that, Olympiacos will be eager to become the first side to eliminate English opposition in consecutive knockout rounds in European competition since Bayern Munich did so in 2013/14.
Looking at the team news – Olympiacos will be without left-back Leonardo Koutris and forward Hillal Soudani for the first leg as both players are injured.
Wolves duo Jonny and Morgan Gibbs-White remain sidelined, but Diogo Jota has the chance to score a hat-trick in three consecutive Europa League appearances.
Olympiacos’ home advantage looks set to have a big impact on the first leg and Wolves could struggled in Greece.
Forebet predicts that Olympiacos will scored over 2.5 goals on their way to victory on Thursday.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
UEL
512227
1
3 - 1
3.13
13°
2.95
2.95
3.10
2.65
-1
-1
1
1 - 1(0 - 0)
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