SLGR Matchday 21 Preview: AEK and Olympiacos square off at the Olympic Stadium
AGONAsport’s George Tsitsonis previews matchday 21 of the 2019/20 Greek SuperLeague.
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Matchday 21 of the 2019/20 Greek Super League 1 is highlighted by the Sunday night derby between AEK and Olympiacos in Athens. Elsewhere, PAOK will try to keep the pace with a victory over Volos while Panathinaikos are facing a test away to Larisa.
Below is a day-by-day breakdown of this weekend’s matches.
Saturday
Larisa-Panathinaikos
Saturday’s lone encounter takes place in Thessaly as Larisa welcome the visit of Panathinaikos. The visitors are putting together their best stretch of the season and proved that good form with a 3-1 victory over Atromitos in midweek action. Larisa meanwhile had to come from two goals behind to salvage a draw against lowly Panetolikos. That was a disappointing result, but the Vissini remain just two points off of a playoff place.
Sunday
Xanthi-OFI
Panionios-Atromitos
Panetolikos-Aris
AEK-Olympiacos
Sunday represents the main course of the weekend with four matches on tap. The day begins in Xanthi as the home side faces off against OFI. It will be a true battle of top six hopefuls in a race for the playoffs that is wide open. Both teams are coming off midweek defeats and will look to get back to winning ways.
Atromitos’ top six aspirations would receive a welcome boost with a victory away to Panionios. Savvas Pantelidis’ men may have gone down 3-1 to Panathinaikos, but they remain amongst the favorites for sixth place. Panionios meanwhile remain dead last in the standings following another defeat, most recently away to Asteras Tripolis. The only objective for the Nea Smyrni side at this stage is to avoid relegation.
Aris will attempt to build on a hard-fought midweek win when they go to Agrinio to play Panetolikos. The Thessaloniki club slipped past Xanthi 1-0 thanks to a Bruno Gama penalty-kick on Thursday. Michael Oenning’s team are fifth in the table and appear to be locked into a battle for fourth with Panathinaikos. Panetolikos were ever so close to a rare victory when they took a 2-0 lead against Larisa on Wednesday after a brace from Abiola Dauda. They eventually lost that advantage however and came up short in their bid to win just their second match of the campaign.
The AGONAsport Match of the Week is none other than the derby between AEK and Olympiacos on Sunday night. The clash at the Olympic Stadium promises to be intriguing. Both sides come into the game in good form. AEK were disappointing in a derby loss to PAOK a fortnight back but since have had an uptick in their performances. The midweek 3-1 win at Volos was impressive and Sunday’s match appears to be coming at the right time for the Kitrinomavri.
Olympiacos are undefeated on the season and have won seven of their last eight matches. They were not overly convincing in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory at OFI, however it was a big victory in a traditionally difficult place to play. A win on Sunday for Pedro Martins’ side would keep them top of the standings going into the last five matches of the regular season.
Monday
PAOK-Volos
Lamia-Asteras Tripolis
Two matches on Monday complete the round. PAOK will fancy their chances of going top by the end of the weekend. They could do so should Olympiacos drop points and they defeat Volos at Toumba Stadium. PAOK eked out a 1-0 victory away to Lamia in their last match and are doing all they can to keep place with Olympiacos at the top. Volos went down to AEK on Wednesday at home and will face another difficult opponent this matchday. Staying up is the only goal for the Thessaly club and any point gained in Thessaloniki would be a massive help.
Finally, Lamia versus Asteras Tripolis finishes off the Super League 1 schedule. Both teams have had spells of decent form this season along with rough patches. At this stage it would be a surprise if either team were able to avoid finishing in the bottom half.
