The Netherlands trail Greece by three points in Group B ahead of their pivotal Matchday 8 Euro 2024 qualifier in Athens on Monday night.
While the Dutch suffered a 2-1 defeat to France on Friday, Greece claimed a 2-0 victory over Ireland to move second in Group B – six points behind the French.
⚔️ We are ready for tomorrow 👊 ARE YOU 🫵 #lasttrainining #ethnikiomada #ready pic.twitter.com/KYIQqmOoRc— Ethniki Omada (@EthnikiOmada) October 15, 2023
⚔️ We are ready for tomorrow 👊 ARE YOU 🫵 #lasttrainining #ethnikiomada #ready pic.twitter.com/KYIQqmOoRc
Can the Greeks strengthen their qualification chances on home soil? Or will the Netherlands move level on points with their rivals? It’s time to take a closer look at the teams.
Let’s start with the hosts, Greece, who have won four of their six Euro 2024 qualifiers, suffering two defeats along the way.
Thanks to a 5-0 thrashing of Gibraltar last month, Greece head into Monday’s showdown on a two-game winning streak after Friday’s victory over Ireland.
It is also worth noting that Greece have been impressive defensively of late, keeping a clean sheet in four of their previous seven outings across all competitions.
That said, they suffered a 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands in the reverse fixture last month, managing a solitary attempt on target in Eindhoven.
As for the Netherlands, they have recorded three wins and two draws in five Euro 2024 qualifiers, meaning they have a game in hand on Greece.
After losing their opening match to France, the Dutch secured three successive victories, defeating Gibraltar, Greece and Ireland.
However, their winning streak came to an end as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to France on Friday, with Kylian Mbappe bagging a brace in Amsterdam.
Following Nations League defeats against Croatia and Italy back in June, the Netherlands have now lost three of their previous five outings across all competitions.
Head-to-head: Greece have faced the Netherlands on 10 occasions over the years, with their only victory coming back in 2016 in a friendly.
The Dutch have won eight of their 10 previous meetings with the Greeks, scoring over 1.5 goals on six occasions while keeping eight clean sheets.
Team news: Greece deployed a 4-3-3 formation last time out, with Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas and West Ham’s Konstantinos Mavropanos in the backline.
The Netherlands, meanwhile, lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation on Friday. Wout Weghorst led the line, with Virgil van Dijk and Nathan Ake at centre-back.
Although Greece have shown promising signs in recent times, the Netherlands should have more than enough firepower to claim all three points on Monday.
Forebet predicts that the Netherlands will score over 2.5 goals on their way to dispatching Greece, although the hosts are also expected to find the back of the net.