Olympiacos seek first leg advantage to take back to England
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - ROUND OF 32 (LEG 1)
AGONAsport previews the Europa League Round of 32 first leg match between Olympiacos and Arsenal.
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Olympiacos and Arsenal meet for the ninth time in just over a decade on Thursday night when they contest the first leg of their Europa League Round of 32 pairing. Both teams will have high hopes of picking up a positive result at the Karaiskakis Stadium, one they can take to the return leg in London next week.
Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners in Piraeus four years ago in the last meeting of the two teams, but before that Olympiacos had won all three games in Greece.
Olympiacos are in the midst of a tight title race in the Greek Super League 1 as they try to regain the league title for the first time in three years. Pedro Martins’ men are also through to the semifinals of the Greek Cup as they stay on track for a domestic double. Having a real run in the Europa League is also a goal however and advancing past Arsenal in the competition would represent a major feat. The Erythrolefki must avoid the temptation of looking past Arsenal with a massive derby against PAOK slated for Sunday.
Olympiacos warmed up for the big matches Arsenal and PAOK with a 4-0 thrashing of Panionios last weekend. It was 3-0 inside of ten minutes for Martins’ men with Ahmed Hassan, Kostas Fortounis, and Youssef El-Arabi all on the scoresheet early. El-Arabi secured his brace in the 24th minute before the home side took their foot off the gas.
New Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta will take charge of his first European match as Gunners boss on Thursday. The general perception is that the North London side has improved since Arteta was appointed in December. The displays seem better, but results have still been hard to come by. The team had drawn seven of their last nine league matches before last weekend’s emphatic 4-0 over Newcastle. Even then though, two injury-time goals added some extra gloss to the scoreline.
Olympiacos need to respect the threat offered by Arsenal. The English side will see their best chance for success this season in the cup competitions. Certainly winning the Europa League will be considered a viable route for a Champions’ League spot next season.
TEAM NEWS
Olympiacos
The big absence for Olympiacos concerns Hilal Soudani. The Algerian forward was becoming a key part of Martins’ plans before he suffered a season-ending injury recently. The loss of Soudani leaves Olympiacos thin in the attacking ranks. El-Arabi is the only experienced out-and-out striker and thus it is likely that Martins will choose to play with just one man up front. In league play, Ahmed Hassan has been partnering El-Arabi however the Egyptian is not in the club’s Europa League squad.
In fact, injuries are not a massive factor for Olympiacos especially with the recent returns of Fortounis and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos. However some late signings in the January transfer window such as Hassan as well as Turkish winger Emre Mor and Brazilian midfielder Cafu have not been incorporated in the team’s European squad. This has left the team somewhat light in the attacking areas with Christodoulopoulos also not available for Europa League play.
Possible line-up: Sá; Elabdellaoui, Semedo, Ba, Tsimikas; Guilherme, Bouchalakis, Camara; Valbuena, Masouras; El Arabi
Arsenal
Arsenal do not have massive injury concerns, but a few players will be missing for this first leg. Mesut Ozil will stay in England due to personal reasons, reportedly because his girlfriend is about to give birth. A bout of fever ensures Lucas Torreira will also be unavailable. Callum Chambers is out for the season with a knee injury and Kieran Tierney is also a long-term absentee. Reiss Nelson is doubtful due to a hamstring problem while recent signing Cedric Soares is unavailable as he continues to recover from a knee injury. Sead Kolasinac and Bukayo Saka join Nelson as questionable, but both are expected to be in the squad with Saka set to feature in the starting eleven.
Possible line-up: Martínez; Saka, David Luiz, Sokratis, Bellerín; Xhaka, Guendouzi; Aubameyang, Ceballos, Martinelli; Lacazette
REFEREE: Felix Zwayer
German referee Felix Zwayer will take charge of this Round of 32 match. The 38-year-old has refereed in the German Bundesliga since the 2009/10 season and in European competition beginning in the 2012/13 season.
Zwayer is no stranger to officiating matches involving Greek clubs. He oversaw the Greek Cup Final last May between PAOK and AEK. He has been the man in the middle for two Olympiacos matches, both in 2017/18. The first was a Champions’ League qualifier versus Croatian side Rijeka (a 2-1 home victory for the Greek team) and the other a 3-1 loss to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
Zwayer has twice refereed matches involving PAOK, a 1-0 defeat for the club in Thessaloniki against Fiorentina at home in 2014/15 and a 0-0 draw away to Maccabi Haifa the season before that.
The last time Zwayer officiated a match involving Greece was the national team’s 2-1 win over Bosnia last October for EURO 2020 qualifying.
Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant referees:
Thorsten Schiffner (GER)
Marco Achmüller (GER)
Video Assistant Referee: Sascha Stegemann (GER)
Assistant Video Assistant Referee: Jan Seidel (GER)
Fourth official: Harm Osmers (GER)
