Battle for Super League survival approaching the final straight
With 22 rounds in the books, the fight of Super League survival is really starting to become intense, as seven teams battle it out to protect their top flight status. AGONAsport investigates.
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The fight for survival is more fascinating than ever. As a result of the shake-up to the Greek football ladder, three Super League teams suffer automatic demotion this season, while the club in 13th place will then play the second best Football League side in a relegation/promotion playoff. The stakes couldn’t be any higher.
We can already consider one club relegated. Apollon Smyrnis, who only stayed up last year thanks to a late surge, are rooted to the bottom of the Super League standings with a mere nine points in 22 matches. While it is still mathematically possible for Apollon to survive, it seems only a matter of time before their fate is sealed, especially when taking into account they’ve only won two matches in the entire season so far. Apollon are 11 points adrift of 13th placed PAS Giannina and can start preparing for life in the second tier.
However, asides from Apollon, eight other Super League teams are involved in a fascinating scrap to avoid the drop. Xanthi, Lamia and Panionios, occupying eighth, ninth and 10th positions respectively, do have a solid advantage over PAS Giannina, and in recent weeks, two of them have been giving promising performances. Lamia, who knocked out Olympiacos in the Cup quarterfinals, have won their last two consecutive league matches, while Panionios picked up a valuable point against Aris on the road and defeated Panathinaikos in Nea Smyrni. Lamia will host Panionios on matchday 26. Xanthi are tied on 27 points with Lamia, but hold the tiebreaker advantage due to a better goal differential.
One team which didn’t expect to be involved in a survival dogfight is Asteras Tripolis. In the 2017/2018 campaign, Asteras finished in an impressive fifth to qualify for the UEFA Europa League preliminaries, but they’re flattered to deceive in a thoroughly underwhelming 2018/2019 season. At the moment, the Tripoli club are level on 22 points with AEL, just two above the relegation/promotion playoff spot. In their remaining games, Asteas will play relegation rivals Lamia, AEL, Levadiakos, PAS Giannina and OFI, and they don’t have any fixtures against the leading pack.
AEL cannot find any stability with major shareholder Alexis Kougias still running the organisation, and when looking at their schedule, concern for their survival grows. In the final three weeks of the season, AEL will play PAOK, AEK and Olympiacos, and before they play the big three, they’ll take on OFI, Levadiakos, PAS Giannina, Asteras and Panionios. A large return of points in those five matches against teams also fighting to stay in the Super League is necessary ahead of the horrible run-in.
A mere three points separates PAS Giannina in 13th and OFI in 15th. Between them, Levadiakos trail PAS by one point, and they’ve embarked on another Great Escape with vital wins against Panetolikos and Xanthi in the previous two matches. All three will play against each other in the coming weeks.
Remaining 2018/2019 Super League matches for the eight teams in question:
XANTHI
PAS Giannina (A)
Asteras (H)
Panionios (A)
PAOK (H)
AEK (H)
Olympiacos (A)
Apollon Smyrnis (H)
Aris (A)
LAMIA
Levadiakos (A)
PAS Giannina (H)
Asteras (A)
Panionios (H)
PAOK (A)
AEK (H)
Olympiacos (H)
Apollon Smyrnis (A)
PANIONIOS
Atromitos (A)
Panetolikos (A)
Xanthi (H)
Lamia (A)
AEL (H)
Levadiakos (A)
PAS Giannina (H)
Asteras (A)
ASTERAS TRIPOLIS
Panetolikos (H)
Xanthi (A)
Lamia (H)
AEL (A)
Levadiakos (H)
PAS Giannina (A)
OFI (A)
Panionios (H)
AEL
OFI (A)
Levadiakos (H)
PAS Giannina (A)
Asteras (H)
Panionios (A)
PAOK (H)
AEK (A)
Olympiacos (H)
PAS GIANNINA
Xanthi (H)
Lamia (A)
AEL (H)
Levadiakos (A)
OFI (A)
Asteras (H)
Panionios (A)
PAOK (H)
LEVADIAKOS
Lamia (H)
AEL (A)
OFI (A)
PAS Giannina (H)
Asteras (A)
Panionios (H)
PAOK (A)
AEK (H)
OFI
AEL (H)
Apollon Smyrnis (A)
Levadiakos (H)
Aris (A)
PAS Giannina (H)
Panathinaikos (A)
Asteras (H)
Atromitos (A)
