SLGR Matchday 14 Preview: AEK away to Xanthi in battle of the new bosses
AGONAsport’s George Tsitsonis previews matchday 14 of the 2019/20 Greek SuperLeague.
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The second half of the 2019/20 Greek Super League 1 season commences this weekend with a full slate of fixtures. Joint leaders Olympiacos and PAOK face trips to Tripoli and Agrinio respectively while Xanthi and AEK face off in a battle of debutant managers. Elsewhere, red-hot Lamia will travel to take on Panathinaikos and there will be interest in Crete in a battle of top-six hopefuls with OFI hosting Aris.
Here is a daily breakdown of the weekend fixtures:
Saturday
OFI - Aris
Panathinaikos - Lamia
Xanthi - AEK
One of the most intriguing encounters of the weekend kicks off Matchday 14 as OFI host Aris in Saturday’s first match. Both sides were pegged back by Lamia in recent weeks with OFI tasting defeat 2-1 last week and Aris being held at home the week before. OFI are fifth on 19 points with Aris just a point behind in seventh. These are two clubs who will be expecting a top-six place this season and a potential European berth so this should be an evenly-matched affair.
After going winless in their eight matches, Lamia have flipped the script in the last month and a half. Akis Mantzios has done tremendous work to turn the club’s season around and the central Greece side have won four of their last five matches. They will have their work cut out for them this weekend with a trip away to Panathinaikos in Athens. That might have been a match that Lamia would not have expected points from in the past, but Panathinaikos’ inconsistent form will give cause for hope. It has been a poor first half of the season for Giorgos Donis’ team, however they remain just two points outside the top six and will fancy their chances of clinching a spot in the championship play-offs.
The AGONAsport Match of the Week takes places in northern Greece as AEK make the long trip to meet up with Xanthi. After a terrible run recently, AEK replaced caretaker boss Nikos Kostenoglou with Italian manager Massimo Carrera. He will take his place on the Kitrinomavri bench for the first time. Also making his debut for a new side is veteran Greek coach Giorgos Paraschos. The legendary Paraschos is third on the all-time list for coaching games having been on the bench for 555 Greek matches. Both sides will be aiming for a new manager bounce as they try to consolidate their positions in the table and move further up (AEK 3rd/21 points, Xanthi 6th/19 points).
Sunday
Larisa - Atromitos
Volos - Panionios
Asteras Tripolis - Olympiacos
Panetolikos - PAOK
Joint leaders of the Super League 1, Olympiacos and PAOK, are on the road as part of Sunday’s quartet of fixtures.
New Asteras Tripolis boss Milan Rastavac may be weary of an Olympiacos side who will have momentum after their midweek European exploits. The Erythrolefki defeated Red Star Belgrade 1-0 at the Karaiskakis Stadium on Wednesday thereby clinching a spot in the Europa League’s Round of 32. From now until February Pedro Martins’ men can focus exclusively on their title challenge for the first time this season. Olympiacos have a history of finding life difficult in Tripoli, but Asteras must improve on a subpar first half of their campaign. The Arkades have amassed just twelve points thus far and are winless in their last five matches.
PAOK, even with Olympiacos on 31 points atop the standings, on paper appear to have a slightly easier match-up as they head to last-placed Panetolikos. The Agrinio club failed to win a single match in their first thirteen games and are coming off a 3-0 loss to Olympiacos last week. It doesn’t get any easier with PAOK coming to town this weekend. Abel Ferreira’s side continue to look in good form as evidenced by their 2-0 victory over Xanthi last round.
The remaining two matches on the schedule take place in Thessaly. The day begins with Larisa welcoming Atromitos to the AEL FC Arena. Larisa have quietly risen to fourth in the standings and along with OFI have been the surprise teams in the first half of the season. In Atromitos they will find a team with expectations of a place higher up the table. Savvas Pantelidis’ short time at the club has seen a mini-revival and the Peristeri side will seek to continue that against Larisa.
Finally, in Volos at the Panthessaliko Stadium, the home side will do battle against visiting Panionios. The Nea Smyrni club have done well over the first half of the campaign in wiping away a six-point deduction. They would not have been happy however with the 5-0 thrashing at the hands of AEK last weekend. Panionios will attempt to be more competitive against a Volos side who appear to be too good to go down for relegation, but perhaps do not have the requisite quality to be more than a midtable side.
