AEK in desperate need of win against resurgent Aris
 

SUPERL EAGUE - MATCHDAY 11

AGONAsport previews the Super League duel between AEK and Aris at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.

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AEK are in serious need of a major victory. Under the leadership of Nikos Kostenoglou, AEK had been showing plenty of positive showings during September and the first half of October, but the crushing derby defeat to Olympiacos ruined all of their good work. If that wasn’t already bad enough, AEK then contrived to concede an avoidable loss against Athenian rivals Panathinaikos, squandering a two-goal lead in the process. AEK now find themselves in a distant third place with their title hopes in tatters.

Their dreadful defensive showings have been a big concern. Incredibly, AEK have conceded at least two goals in five of their last six games, and they have let in a grand total of 15 markers in just 10 matches. In stark comparison, league leaders Olympiacos have only seen the ball hit the back of their net on four occasions.

Aris, on the other hand, are rapidly improving with Michael Oenning at the helm. Playing in a confident, fluid manner, Aris have won three of their past four Super League matches, most recently defeating Asteras Tripolis 2-1 at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium. Aris also beat CSKA Sofia 2-0 at home in a friendly match during the international break.

At the moment, Aris sit in seventh spot of the table with 15 points, but they can leapfrog AEK with a win at the OAKA.

In the 2018/2019 season, AEK thrashed Aris 4-0 in the capital, before the latter gained revenge with a 2-0 win in Thessaloniki.

TEAM NEWS: AEK

AEK are hit by illness, injury and suspension problems. Nenad Krsticic and Francisco Geraldes miss out with a virus, Niklas Hult felt discomfort during training on Saturday, the injured Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Viktor Klonaridis are both training individually and Marko Livaja is suspended.

Petros Mantalos will play behind striker Nelson Oliveira, while Christos Almpanis and Daniele Verde play on the left and right flanks respectively. Stratos Svarnas is the favourite to partner returnee Ognjen Vranjes in the middle of defence.

Possible line-up: Barkas, Lopes, Svarnas, Vranjes, Bakakis, Simoes, Galanopoulos, Almpanis, Mantalos, Verde, Oliveira.

TEAM NEWS: ARIS

On Saturday, Aris boss Michael Oenning did include Julian Cuesta in the squad to face AEK, but he will only sit on the bench as the back-up goalkeeper as the Spaniard continues to recover from a long-term injury. Apostolos Tsilingiris will start between the sticks with Fabian Ehmann suspended.

Swedish right-back Daniel Sundgren is out with injury. Dimitris Konstantinidis would have been an ideal replacement, but he has not travelled to Athens. One of Hugo Sousa, Lucas Sasha and Lindsay Rose will play in Sundgren’s place.

Martin Tonso is also injured.

Possible line-up: Tsilingiris, Korhut, Velez, Rose, Sousa, Lucas Sasha, Matilla, Diguiny, Bruno Gama, Fetfatzidis, Ideye.

by Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: to10.gr

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