Olympiacos-AEK: Red and white outbreak or yellow-black launch?

Evidence derby that can judge a lot in “G. Karaiskakis”. THE Olympic hosts her AEK for the 17th matchday of the Stoiximan Super League, in a match of great interest in terms of points, but which also finds the two teams in a different situation.

On the one hand, the “red and whites” are looking for an outbreak and a reaction after the defeat by Lamia and the consecutive bad performances. On the other hand, the “yellow and black” are looking for a three-pointer that can… launch them and erase the thick gels against Panaitolikos and Panserraikos. Of course, if we have a winner, the data will be completely different. Because the Olympiakos (32 points) will drop fourth AEK (35 points), while in the other case Union will leave Piraeus fourth and their difference from the top may grow even further. In the event of a tie, both will be… losers if they win Panathinaikos and PAOK.

THE Olympic, well, it comes from two straight losses and three in the last four matches. The defeat and performance in Lamia (1-0) a few days ago was the worst of the year, while earlier the draw in Peristeri (0-0), Volos (2-2) and the victory in Serres (0-1) had come. . His team Carlos Carvalhal returns home again and looks for its first win of the year in a match against the title contenders. At home, she is 6-0-2 with a 23-9 goal-scoring record, setting her pace and looking to get back to three-pointers, gaining momentum heading into the playoffs.

The Portuguese coach does not consider El Kaabi, who is in the African Cup of Nations, while El Arabi, Biel will hardly get playing time. At the same time, Fran Navarro is expected to start instead of Stefan Jovetic, while it remains to be seen if Carvalhal will choose 4-3-3 instead of 4-2-3-1 as a formation.

THE AEK on the other hand, he managed to return to winning ways, beating Volos 3-0 at the “OPAP Arena”. Without taking out, however, the pressure and momentum of other games and with a professional appearance, his team Matias Almeida cleaned up the match, conserving strength for the derby in Faliro and the midweek Cup match with Aris. The Black and Yellows, who have 2 wins and 1 draw (that one with Olympiakos at home in the first round) in the derbies, are looking for a result to keep them in the top flight, with the Argentinian manager seeing more and more players returning to the squad of.

Even Sergio Araujo, after a long period of abstinence due to a knee problem, has returned to training but it seems unlikely that he will compete. At the same time, Mr Almeida rubbing his hands in the very good condition that Levi Garcia is in, while not counting on the services of Mohammadi, Hadjisafi and Mukudi who are with their national teams.

POSSIBLE ELEVENS:

Olympiacos (Carlos Carvalhal): Paschalakis – Rodinei, Retsos, Biancon, Ortega – Ese, Kamara, Alexandropoulos – Pontense, Navarro, Fortounis.

AEK (Matias Almeida): Stankovic – Rota, Vida, Cullens, Pelios – Szymanski, Pineda, Gacinovic, Amrabad – Zuber, Levi Garcia.

Referee: Marchefka (Slovakia)

Assistants: Chromo, Zemko (Slovakia)

Fourth: Vergetis (Arcadia)

VAR: Mikel (Slovakia), Meidanas (Achaia)