This Wednesday Olympiakos take on Arsenal in a vital Champions League tie at the Georgios Karaiskaki Stadium, Piraeus, Kick-off at 19:45 GMT.
The situation in Group F is that Bayern Munich have qualified in 1st place. So this is a straight battle for 2nd place. A win or draw will see Olympiakos qualify. Whereas Arsenal need to win by 2 clear goals or any win whilst scoring 3 or more goals.
Olympiakos have made a superb start to the season. Here they are coming off a 4-3 victory away at bottom side Panthrakikos and this was Olympiakos’ 12th win on the bounce as they top the Greek Super League on 36 points.
Olympiakos boast a strong Champions League home record that reads W8, D0, L2.
Since 2000 this will be the 4th time the 2 sides have met with Olympiakos winning all three previous meetings in 2009, 2011 & 2012.
Arsenal have also made a reasonable start to the season and after beating Sunderland 3-1 at the Emirates, the Gunners now sit in 2nd place on 30 points. However Arsene Wenger’s side have only won 1 of their last 4 Premier League matches.
Arsenal’s recent domestic away record reads a strong looking W10, D2, L3.
When it comes to the Champions League, Arsenal’s recent away record is average at best and reads W4, D2, L4.
Goal lines
As far as goals are concerned then the stats point to Unders. When looking at both sides last 10 European home and away ties, in the 20 matches we have the following: 6 matches have seen 4 or more goals, 5 matches have seen 3 goals, with 2 or less goals being seen in 9 games.
Summary
This is a huge game for both sides and should the Gunners not get the required result then it would be the first time in 16 seasons that Arsenal have failed to make the knockout stages. When looking at the Goal line then the stats suggest that there may be some value backing under 2.5/3.0 goals. However here Arsenal have to chase this game from the start and given the situation of the group anything could happen and I would suggest leaving the goal line alone.
For my trade I am turning to the match line and here my ratings are suggesting value in siding with the home side. Not only do Olympiakos boast a strong home record in this competition, it is also the calibre of the sides they have beaten. In 2014 they beat Manchester United, Juventus & Atletico Madrid. Here they are coming up against a Gunners side that have drawn 1, and lost 4 of their last 5 visits to Greece and here they look up against it from the start. My recommended trade for this match is Olympiakos +0.5 goals at around 1.86.