Two teams in need of a win in Thessaloniki
 

SUPERL EAGUE - MATCHDAY 6

AGONAsport previews the fascinating Super League duel between Aris and Olympiacos at the Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium.

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A lot is riding on this match. Last week, Aris contrived to concede a shock 3-2 home defeat to AE Larissa after initially leading by two goals, while Olympiacos suffered a painful 3-1 loss against Red Star Belgrade in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday. Fans of the Erythrolefki are beginning to ask questions of Pedro Martins after the Portuguese manager raised eyebrows with his puzzling team selection.

A trip to Aris is difficult for any Greek club at the best of times. With the backing of their vociferous home support, Aris are capable of beating anyone at the atmospheric Kleanthis Vikelidis Stadium, and you can bet the arena will be rocking when Olympiacos visit in the evening. Aris have already thrashed Panathinaikos 4-0 at home this season while tallying a 2-2 draw against PAOK at the Toumba Stadium. Apostolos Terzis has been the temporary head coach since Savvas Pantelidis resigned in late August.

The defeat against AEL on matchday five wasn’t logical. In fact, despite losing 3-2, Aris created a plethora of opportunities throughout the entire game and should have scored a lot more than just the two goals. Brown Ideye and Nicolas Diguiny were particularly guilty of some poor misses in front of goal.

Pressure is just starting to mount on Olympiacos. The Erythrolefki did make a brilliant start to the campaign, but with the demands of the Champions League starting to take their toll, but the performance level and results themselves have dropped. In the Super League, Olympiacos had to be patient against Lamia at the Karaiskakis Stadium in a 2-0 triumph, before they were then beaten by Red Star in Serbia with Yassine Benzia receiving a red card. Martins’ odd squad selections in recent games have started to worry their large fan base.

Olympiacos did earn two wins against Aris in the 2018/2019 Super League campaign (4-1 in Piraeus, 1-0 in Thessaloniki).

TEAM NEWS: ARIS

If we discount the absence of injured Spanish goalkeeper Julian Cuesta, Terzis has a full-strength squad at his disposal. Defensive midfielder Lucas Sasha returns, while Fabian Ehmann continues to guard the Aris goal with Cuesta sitting on the sidelines. Nigerian striker Brown Ideye represented Olympiacos between 2015 and 2017.

Possible line-up: Ehmann, Korhut, Rose, Velez, Sundgren, Matilla, Sasha, Gama, Diguiny, Fetfatzidis, Ideye.

TEAM NEWS: OLYMPIACOS

Tunisian centre-back Yassine Meriah could be replaced in the centre of defence after his dreadful showing against Red Star in Belgrade. At the moment, Pape Abou Cisse is still injured, so Martins has the choice of either Avraam Papadopoulos or Ousseynou Ba replacing Meriah. The likes of Omar Elabdellaoui, Guilherme and Daniel Podence are sure to return to the starting line-up.

Possible line-up: Sa, Tsimikas, Semedo, Papadopoulos, Elabdellaoui, Guilherme, Bouchalakis, Podence, Valbuena, Masouras, El Arabi.

by Shaun Nicolaides

Image Source: to10.gr

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