SLGR Matchday 15 Preview: OFI and PAO battle in Crete; PAOK look to stretch unbeaten run to 50

AGONAsport’s George Tsitsonis previews matchday 15 of the 2019/20 Greek SuperLeague.

Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage from AGONASport.com! 

There will be short turnaround between matchdays as the 2019/20 Greek Super League 1 has its first midweek round of the season. Matchday 15 represents the second to last round of the calendar year and teams will be keen to head into the holiday season on a high. Olympiacos and PAOK have been engaged in a neck and neck battle atop the standings for most of the season. Can one side pull ahead in the final weeks of 2019? Olympiacos are up first in this midweek as they host Larisa. PAOK meanwhile end the full slate of fixtures when they take Panionios away from home on Thursday evening. 

Elsewhere, perhaps the most interesting match will be found in Crete as in-form sides OFI and Panathinaikos, fourth and fifth in the Super League 1 table respectively, face off in Heraklion. AEK and Aris are back at home with the former welcoming slumping Asteras Tripolis and the latter with a tougher looking tie against Volos. 

Below is a daily breakdown of the midweek action:

Wednesday

Xanthi - Panetolikos

OFI - Panathinaikos

Olympiacos - Larisa

AEK - Asteras Tripolis

Atromitos - Lamia

The midweek slate of fixtures begins in Xanthi on Wednesday as the home side host bottom of the table Panetolikos. Xanthi are hoping that a second consecutive home match will yield a better result after a 1-0 defeat to AEK this past weekend. Panetolikos’ season meanwhile seems to be in freefall. The Agrinio club are dead last in the table, have yet to win this season, and were easily defeated by PAOK, 3-0, at home on Sunday.

OFI’s fine season hit a new high over the weekend with a 3-1 victory over fellow European hopefuls Aris. Now, they look to extend that momentum into a high-profile encounter against Panathinaikos on Wednesday, the AGONAsport Match of the Week. Giorgos Donis’ men are beginning to put together some consistent results. The 2-0 victory over a previously red-hot Lamia team on Sunday was the Prasini’s sixth consecutive game without a defeat, a run that has put them into the top five in the standings after a subpar start.

Last week was a positive one for Olympiacos as they clinched a European spot and stayed atop the Super League 1 standings after victories over Red Star Belgrade and Asteras Tripolis. The Erythrolefki were drawn against Arsenal in the Round of 32 in the Europa League earlier this week. Now, Pedro Martins can leave behind their European campaign for a while and concentrate solely on the domestic front. They host a Larisa side who have shown some inconsistent form this season, but who have ultimately done much better than pundits had predicted. A fight against the drop was expected for Michalis Grigoriou’s team, however despite a home defeat to Atromitos, the Thessaly club are still sixth in the standings. 

Manager Massimo Carrera enjoyed a winning debut on the AEK bench as his new side prevailed 1-0 over Xanthi last weekend. Now, the Italian boss will enter his first home match seeking to make it two on the spin as visiting Asteras Tripolis come to the Olympic Stadium in Athens. Milan Rastavac will be expected more fight from his team who are coming off of an embarrassing 5-0 home loss to Olympiacos. 

The other late kick-off takes place in Peristeri as Atromitos play host to Lamia. Atromitos’ fortunes have seemingly been revived in the early days of manager Savvas Pantelidis’ reign. Pantelidis’ appointment has prompted a positive response from the squad and a weekend victory away to Larisa brought the team up to ninth. It should be intriguing viewing then when Atromitos match up with Lamia. Akis Mantzios’ team were on an absolute tear before a 2-0 defeat to Panathinaikos on Saturday. Still, the fact remains that after a woeful opening to the season, Lamia have lost just once in their last six matches.

Thursday

Aris - Volos

Panionios - PAOK

Stumbling Aris will return home and hope to regain their mojo as they go up against Volos. Michael Oenning’s team went down to a 3-1 defeat on Matchday 14 to OFI. The result dropped the Thessaloniki side to eighth in the table, an extremely disappointing position for a club who qualified for European football last season. This season was always going to be a battle against relegation for promoted Volos. Thus far they look up to the challenge. Results such as the 2-1 win over Panionios, one that ended a three-match winless skid, will certainly keep the team’s hopes of survival alive. 

The final match of the round will be played between Panionios and joint leaders PAOK in Nea Smyrni. PAOK had little trouble disposing of Panetolikos on Sunday in a 3-0 stroll. Abel Ferreira’s side can hit 50 matches unbeaten should they avoid defeat on Thursday evening. Should they manage to do so they will pull within eight matches of the all-time Greek league record (58 games unbeaten  by Olympiacos between 1972-74). After embarking on a revival with a four-match unbeaten streak, Panionios have come crashing down recently with losses to AEK and most recently Volos. 

Image Source: .gr

Thank you for visiting AGONAsport.com, the only English based website for Greek sports fans across the world! Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and Twitter for all the latest news in Greek Sports!