Olympiacos will be looking to upset the odds in the first leg of their Round of 32 tie against Arsenal on Thursday. The Gunners travel to Greece as one of the Europa League favourites, but Olympiacos are more than capable of springing a surprise.
Pedro Martins’ side are unbeaten in the Greek top-flight this season. Olympiacos have won 18 of their 24 league games in 2019/20 and have drawn the other six.
The Greek giants also have a formidable goalscoring record – scoring 50 league goals this term at a rate of just over two goals per game. Remarkably, Olympiacos have only conceded nine.
A comfortable 4-0 victory over Panionios in their previous game means Olympiacos will come into the first leg of this tie brimming with confidence.
Elsewhere, Arsenal also claimed a 4-0 win in their last outing. The Gunners thrashed fellow mid-table strugglers Newcastle United to stay tenth in the Premier League.
The Gunners remain unbeaten in 2020 after winning four and drawing four in all competitions since the turn of the year.
While the team isn't exactly firing on all cylinders, Arsenal are certainly moving in the right direction under new boss Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal cruised through the Europa League group stage after losing just one of their six games in Group F. The Gunners scored 14 goals during that time, but conceded seven.
Meanwhile, Olympiacos were dumped out of the Champions League earlier in the season, with heavy defeats to Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur, and Red Star Belgrade proving they were out of their depth.
However, Olympiacos are much better suited to the Europa League and the Greek side will be confident of doing some damage to Arsenal at the hostile Karaiskakis Stadium.
Key winger Hillal Soudani will miss the remainder of the season through injury. But striker Youssef El Arabi – who has 22 goals in 33 appearances this season – is a serious threat.
Arsenal have no fresh injury worries with Calum Chambers and Kieran Tierney the only long-term absentees for the English side.
However, Arteta could have a selection dilemma after some impressive displays from a number of forwards in the previous game.
Youngster Eddie Nketiah started up front against Newcastle, but Alexandre Lacazette came off the bench to score. The Frenchman could be restored to the starting line-up on Thursday.
Forebet predicts that Olympiacos will continue their high-scoring form with victory over Arsenal. Both teams are likely to find the back of the net, but the home side are expected to score over 2.5 goals.