Three things Arsenal should be aware of before taking on Olympiacos in UEL

It’s now clear that Arsenal will be playing Olympiacos in the last 32 of the Europa League, setting themselves up for a couple of tricky battles with the well-known Greek club in February 2020. The Gunners managed to reach the knockout stages after a first-place finish in the Group F, ahead of Vitoria Guimaraes, Standard Liege, and Eintracht Frankfurt, with three victories in one defeat.

Anyone who is fond of betting on soccer and diligently follows the Europa League would know how difficult it would be to pick the favourites between the two! The Greek outfit couldn’t make it further in the Champions League, however managed to qualify for the Europa League, finishing third in a difficult group comprising of Red Star Belgrade, Bayern Munich, and Tottenham. Nevertheless, below are three things that Arsenal should be wary of prior to taking on Olympiacos in the Europa League next:

Olympiacos will have home advantage

The Georgios Karaiskakis, the home stadium of Olympiacos, is widely considered one of the most intimidating and loudest stadiums of Europe. Arsenal have been here four times out of which they could win only once, and lost thrice during the Champions League. The Greek side have a very good home record, having won eight out of nine home matches in the ongoing Super League, and have been beaten only once by Bayern Munich at home, in all the competitions. Tottenham couldn’t beat them in their away match which ended in a 2-2 draw in September 2019. If the Greek team are serious about a positive result, the start will need to happen in Greece, as they don’t have a very impressive away record, with four draws and three losses in the 11 matches they have played away.

Olympiacos will come at them stronger

The team has stayed unbeaten in the Super League, scoring 12 victories and five draws. They got into the Champions League as well by eliminating Krasnodar, Istanbul Basaksehir, and Victoria Plzen without any troubles. And they accomplished all of that in the absence of Kostas Fortounis, their best player, who had suffered a ligament injury before the start of the season. 

Going by Pedro Martins, the team manager, Fortounis is expected to make a return around mid-January 2020, implying that he could be match ready for the games against Arsenal on February 20 and February 27, respectively. The team will also be bolstered by fully fit Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and Mathieu Valbuena. All these players will join Youssef El-Arabi, the top scorer for Olympiacos this season, as well as goalkeeper Jose Sa, winger Daniel Podence and famous defender Bruno Semedo. 

Reasonable head-to-head record

Arsenal and Olympiacos have played each other on eight occasions in the past, in which both teams won four matches each. Arsenal lost once at the Emirates and thrice in away games, however their last encounter against Olympiacos saw them winning comfortably with a score line of 3-0, in Greece. 

Olympiacos, on the other hand, have improved considerably since that last match and their past results reveal that they have consistently beaten Premier league sides over the years. The team got the better of Liverpool in 2004, Manchester United in 2014, and Burnley in 2018. So a win over Arsenal, at home, is definitely possible.

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