AEK Athens and Ajax will be looking to bounce back from domestic defeats last time out when they do battle at the OPAP Arena in the Europa League group stage on Thursday night.
The hosts currently sit top of Group B after claiming all three points against Brighton & Hove Albion in gameweek one, while the visitors played out an entertaining six-goal draw with Marseille in their opening group fixture.
Match preview
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Many considered AEK Athens as the underdogs heading into their Group B opener with Brighton, but the Greek champions held their own against the Premier League side and claimed an impressive 3-2 victory on the South coast.
Goals from Djibril Sidibe and Mijat Gacinovic were cancelled out by two Joao Pedro penalties, but AEK Athens, who had just 25% possession throughout the 90 minutes, snatched all three points when substitute Ezequiel Ponce netted an 84th-minute winner.
Matias Almeyda's side followed up their famous win over Brighton with successive 2-1 victories in the Greek Super League over Panathanikos and Atromitos, but their winning streak was brought to an end by OFI on Monday as they suffered a 2-0 defeat away from home.
AEK Athens return to the OPAP Arena on Thursday where they have experienced an underwhelming run of form so far this season, winning just one of their first five games in the Greek capital, while the less said about their Europa League home form the better as they are winless in their last 12 games on their own turf in the competition, losing seven and drawing five.
Meanwhile, the Yellow and Blacks head into Thursday's clash with Ajax having lost all four previous meetings with the Dutch giants, all in the Champions League by an aggregate score of 9-1.
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Competing in the Europa League group stage for the first time since 2016-17 when they reached the final, Ajax were forced to settle for a point in a 3-3 home draw with Marseille in their Group B opener despite leading twice in the contest.
Indeed, the Dutch giants were 2-0 up and 3-2 ahead thanks to goals from Carlos Forbs, Steven Berghuis and Kenneth Taylor, but Marseille had the last laugh as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored his second of the match 12 minutes from time to rescue a point for the French visitors.
Ajax have since experienced a chaotic period both on and off the pitch, with their Eredivisie showdown at home against champions Feyenoord abandoned with the visitors leading 3-0 in the second half due to crowd trouble from the home supporters; the game was eventually completed last Wednesday with Feyenoord adding a fourth goal to claim comfortable 4-0 away win.
Maurice Steijn's side then had last Saturday's fixture away against RKC Waalwijk cut short after the host's goalkeeper Etienne Vaessen was knocked unconscious following a serious collision six minutes from time with the score at 3-2 to the visitors.
Ajax will now endeavour to get back up to speed when they return to Europa League action on Thursday, and considering that they have lost just two of their last 19 Europa League group-stage games as well as boast an 11-game unbeaten run against Greek opposition in European competition, Steijn's men should be confident of success against AEK Athens.
Team News
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AEK Athens will be without Domagoj Vida (rib), Levi Garcia (muscle) and Paolo Fernandes (Achilles) due to injury, while Jens Jonsson is doubtful after missing last weekend's defeat to OFI with an unspecified issue.
Tom van Weert, Alexander Callens and Zini all played against OFI, but the trio, along with Stavros Pilios, are ineligible to feature on Thursday after being left out of AEK Athens' Europa League squad.
Ponce and Sergio Araujo are set to replace Van Weert and the injured Garcia up front, while Damian Szymanski is the most likely candidate to slot into central defence alongside Gerasimos Mitoglou in the absence of Callens.
As for Ajax, Silvano Vos is suspended following his late dismissal in the draw with Marseille, while Geronimo Rulli (shoulder), Sivert Mannsverk (leg) and Ahmetcan Kaplan (knee) are ruled out through injury.
The absence of Vos could see either Branco van den Boomen or Benjamin Tahirovic recalled to the first XI to play in centre-midfield alongside Berghuis and Taylor.
A front three of Forbs, Brian Brobbey and Steven Bergwijn is set to remain intact, with summer signing Chuba Akpom – who scored just one goal in 12 games against AEK Athens across two spells in Greece with PAOK – set to begin again as a substitute.
AEK Athens possible starting lineup:
Stankovic; Sidibe, Szymanski, Mitoglou, Hajsafi; Galanopoulos; Amrabat, Gacinovic; Pineda; Araujo, Ponce
Ajax possible starting lineup:
Gorter; Rensch, Sutalo, Hato, Sosa; Taylor, Van den Boomen, Berghuis; Bergwijn, Brobbey, Forbs
We say: AEK Athens 2-2 Ajax
AEK Athens will fancy their chances of claiming another scalp when they face an out-of-sorts Ajax side who have failed to win each of their last five games in all competitions, excluding the abandoned clash with RKC Waalwijk last weekend.
Considering the threat that both teams will likely pose in attack, we can see an entertaining score draw played out in Greece.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Oliver Thomas
