Olympiakos v Tottenham
Wednesday September 18, 17:55
Live on BT Sport
Olympiakos back in the big time
Olympiakos are in the midst of their most barren stretch of domestic success since 1996. Following a period of dominance where the Piraeus club picked up 17 Super League titles in 19 seasons, the Red-Whites have twice failed to take top honours leaving the Greek giants to battle their way through Champions League qualification from the second round.
The 2019 Super League runners-up secured vital eye-catching two-legged aggregate victories over Viktoria Plzen (4-0), Istanbul Basaksehir (3-0) and Krasnodar (6-1) to secure their spot in the group-stages with Portuguese head coach Pedro Martins earning plenty of plaudits for the style and swagger Olympiakos produced en-route to the main stage.
Summer signing Youssef El Arabi scored crucial away goals at Krasnodar and will spearhead the Red-Whites challenge, although skipper and key midfielder Kostas Fortounis will be absent with a long-term knee injury. The creative void will therefore be filled by diminutive French playmaker Mathieu Valbuena with Daniel Podence a live threat from the flanks.
Tottenham back to their best?
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said his side’s “amazing” performance in Saturday’s 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace is the “first step” towards rediscovering the consistency of last season. All four Spurs goals came before the interval, with Son Heung-min the shining light in a much-improved display from the thus far underperforming team.
The final score didn’t quite reflect the contest with Tottenham only generating 1.25 Expected Goals (xG), winning the shot count 13-11 and actually conceding more on-target efforts than Palace (5-6). Nevertheless, it was Spurs’ first game since the European transfer window closed and Pochettino is adamant his squad is now settled for the season.
The Argentine revealed he held an hour-long meeting with his players last week in order to “refocus” minds following an indifferent start to the campaign. Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen were both involved from the start on Saturday, while Dele Alli, Lucas Moura and Tanguy Ndombele were part of a strong bench. Davinson Sanchez remains doubtful.
Olympiakos and Tottenham are locking horns for the first time since their UEFA Cup duels way back in 1972. The Greeks have traditionally proven tough operators at their atmospheric Karaiskakis Stadium base for English opposition in the Champions League over the past decade, posting five wins from six encounters here during the last 10 years.
Olympiakos [4.60] are back in the group-stage of the Champions League for the first time since 2017 but have only reached the knockout stage of Europe’s premier club competition on three occasions this century. The hosts are also winless (W0-D1-L7) over the course of their past eight group-stage encounters dating back to a triumph over Dinamo Zagreb in 2015.
Tottenham [1.94] failed to secure top honours in any of their three away pool matches last term, although Spurs did produce victory on the road twice in three knockout matches en-route to the final. In fact, the 1-0 success at Dortmund back in March is alarmingly the club’s only win on their travels across all competitions since mid-January (W1-D3-L8).
The visitors have often been plagued by sluggish starts. Mauricio Pochettino’s team are at their most fearful when making a positive mark on the opening exchanges; since the start of 2016/17 Tottenham have scored in the first 25 minutes in 37 matches – their record in those fixtures reads W30-D5-L2, giving reason to support the 2.60 on Spurs to score Over 0.5 Goals in the first-half and Spurs double chance in the Same Game Multi market.
Over 2.5 Goals has been chalked up as a [1.90] chance on Wednesday evening. It’s a selection that’s landed in four of Tottenham’s five Premier League games already this term, as Spurs have recorded a solitary shutout. Olympiakos followed suit with goal-heavy games in half of their six Champions League qualifying contests.
However, the hosts only secured a pair of 1-0 domestic triumphs before a 5-0 mauling of Volos last weekend, whilst two of the Red-Whites’ three first leg qualification ties featured no more than one goal. Intriguingly, eight of the Greeks’ nine matches across all competitions have rewarded Both Teams To Score ‘No’ backers and a repeat is [1.99].
Source: Betfair Champions League
