Olympiacos Piraeus vs Qarabag prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – League phase betting tips on match 2025-01-29 20:00.
[p]Olympiacos will hope a hard-fought battle in the Derby of the Eternal Enemies against Panathinaikos (D 1-1), in which there a whopping ten cards shown, hasn’t taken too much out of them before this UEFA Europa League (UEL) clash with Qarabağ. The Greek side still have plenty left to play for in the league phase, as they could still finish in the top-eight, as a seeded knockout round play-off side, or an unseeded one. [/p]
[p]A win is needed to have any chance of finishing in the top-eight, and this game coming at home certainly boosts their chances having lost just one of their last nine home matches in major European competition (W6, D2). An 18-match unbeaten run in all competitions (W11, D7) would suggest they’re good value to keep their European momentum going here, but a failure to win either H2H when these sides met two seasons ago offers reason for caution. [/p]
[p]While Olympiacos have plenty to play for in the upper echelons of the UEL table, Qarabağ are battling at the bottom. The only thing they have left to play for is to avoid the ignominy of finishing bottom of the 36-team league phase, something a point should be enough to ensure they do in what has been a simply tragic campaign for them (W1, L6). [/p]
[p]There’s few silver linings for Qarabağ, but perhaps one of them is that their sole win did arrive on the road, and they’ve actually won seven of their last ten away games in all competitions (D2, L1). That shows they shouldn’t be written off here, as does the fact they’re unbeaten in four games against Greek opposition (W3, D1), keeping a clean sheet in all four![/p]
[p]Players to watch: Olympiacos’ Roman Yaremchuk could make a late impact as his last six European goals arrived after half-time while Leandro Andrade opened the scoring inside a minute for Qarabağ against FCSB in the last round, but six of his eight other club goals this term arrived after the break. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: The designated away side has scored at least twice in nine of Qarabağ’s last 11 UEL games. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]