PAOK Thessaloniki vs Olympiacos Prediction & Betting Tips - Superleague

Prediction published on 12/05/2024, 04:53  by Devesh Jaganath in Football Predictions

PAOK will play host to Olympiacos in a crucial match in the Championship playoff round of the Greece Super League this Sunday. The hosts are currently in second place in the league standings, while the visitors are fourth. After finishing the regular season in pole position, the playoffs have not gone exactly as PAOK would have hoped. Following three winless matches, including two draws and a loss, they were overtaken by AEK Athens for the top spot. However, the Double-Headed Eagle of the North did cut the gap to the leaders to four points last time out when they came from behind to beat Dikefaloss 3-2 at this venue, keeping their title hopes alive in the process. That victory brought an end to a five-match winless run, which included home and away defeats to Club Brugge in the Conference League semis. In the league playoff matches at home, PAOK have recorded two wins and a loss but have scored three goals in each of their last two. While the hosts lost the last meeting between these sides 2-1 last month, the bookies have made them favourites in this contest. 

Meanwhile, Olympiacos were arguably the pick of the sides in the closing stages of the regular season as they ended the campaign with five straight wins. In the playoffs, they suffered back-to-back defeats in their first two games but refound their rhythm thereafter and enter this match unbeaten in their last five games, including four wins and a draw. Thrylos’s last match saw them dominate Lamia at home, securing a 4-1 victory, which took them to 70 points after 33 games, just one point behind PAOK and Panathinaikos, while having a game in hand on the latter. In addition, Olympiacos also have a Conference League final on the horizon against Fiorentina on May 29. On the road in the playoffs, the visitors have won one, drawn one and lost one, and have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last nine, dating back to mid-December. A win for Olympiacos will see them move to second place, two points behind the league leaders heading into the final two games of the season.