SLGR Matchday 8 Preview: North/South Matches Set To Light Up Weekend
AGONAsport’s George Tsitsonis previews matchday 8 of the 2018/19 Greek SuperLeague.
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A pair of North/South battles pitting club from Thessaloniki against ones from Athens highlights the Matchday 8 schedule of the 2018/19 Greek Super League.
The weekend is also unique in that there are a trio of Monday evening matches. On that day, all eyes will be on Toumba in Thessaloniki when PAOK await the arrival of Panathinaikos. The day before that, Athens will be the site of a match between home side AEK and Aris. Both of those matches were pushed back a day.
Elsewhere this weekend, co-leader Atromitos face a potentially trip to Panionios while Olymnpiacos seek a return to winning ways when they take on point-less Apollon Smirnis.
Below is a day-by-day breakdown of this weekend’s matches.
Saturday
Larisa - OFI
Lamia - Levadiakos
Due to the North/South derbies being pushed back a day due to OXI Day celebrations, only two matches are on tap for Saturday. The first features a Larisa side desperate for a victory after a humbling home defeat to Lamia last weekend. They take on OFI, who are fresh off of conquering Olympiacos last weekend for their first win of the season.
Lamia will be gunning for their second consecutive win as they host Levadiakos in the day’s other fixture. This looks a true relegation six-pointer as Levadiakos are second from the bottom with three point, however a victory would put Lamia as high as 9th in the table. Levadiakos sacked Akis Mantzios last week and installed Giuseppe Sannino in his place. The Italian will make his debut this weekend.
Sunday
Panionios - Atromitos
Panetolikos - Asteras Tripolis
AEK - Aris
Sunday’s slate of matches kicks off with an intriguing contest between Panionios and Atromitos at Nea Smyrni. Atromitos would do well to keep their unbeaten run intact and stay atop of the Super League standings with a victory. Panionios have struggled to put together a good run of form, though their schedule to start the season has been pretty challenging.
The late kick-off features AEK playing host to Aris. This should be an interesting match with AEK wanting to keep pace and not lose more ground on PAOK and Atromitos. Aris are coming off a defeat from PAOK last week, however so far have impressed in their return to the top-flight.
In between those two games, a resurgent Panetolikos side who looked very good last week in a win away to PAS Giannina meet up with Asteras Tripolis, a team having a rough start to the 2018/19 campaign.
Monday
Xanthi - PAS Giannina
Olympiacos - Apollon Smirni
PAOK - Panathinaikos
Monday’s trio of matches begins when Xanthi welcome PAS Giannina to town. Xanthi look serious about wanting to finish in the European places and will be the favorites to defeat a Giannina team who have lost four of their five away fixtures.
Olympiacos will expect nothing less than the three points when Apollon Smirnis comes to the Karaiskakis Stadium. Apollon are on zero points after seven matches and after Olympiacos lost in Crete, there is no room for error for the Erythrolefki.
The AGONAsport Match of the Week takes place Monday in Thessaloniki as PAOK and Panathinaikos do battle in Toumba. The two sides have had to face points deductions stemming from last season (PAOK -2, and Panathinaikos -6), but have started the season in sparkling form. PAOK have already passed through seven matches with an undefeated record despite having played Olympiacos and Aris away and AEK at home. If they can manage to defeat Panathinaikos on Monday then surely they will further enhance their position as title favorites. Panathinaikos have been the surprise packages of the season. Expected to struggle with new manager Giorgos Donis and a squad that is very young, the Prasini have instead confounded critics by playing some good football and picking up results.
