Olympiakos Piraeus – Burnley Prediction & Picks (23.08.2018)

Olympiakos Piraeus and Burnley meet at Stadio Georgios Karaiskáki, in a match for this phase of the UEFA Europa League (Play-offs). These two teams have never faced each other before, so this will be their first direct confrontation. In this game the home factor may be decisive, since both teams present considerable differences in the results achieved at home and as a visitor.

Olympiakos Piraeus:

The home team reaches this stage of the UEFA Europa League (Play-offs) after having eliminated Luzern, after a win by (1-3) and a victory by (4-0) at home in the previous eliminatory. This is a team that usually makes good use of the home advantage, stronger with the help of its supporters, since in the last 30 matches they register 6 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses in away matches; against 10 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses at their stadium. In the last 10 home matches Olympiakos Piraeus has won 6, tied 3 and lost 1 of the last matches. Their attack has scored regularly, since they have scored goals in 7 of the last 10 matches.

The Olympiakos left for this game with a victory against Luzern, by 1-3, a game that allowed him access to these play-offs. It is important to remember that the Greeks had already beaten Luzern in the first leg, 4-0. In this match against his fans, coach Pedro Martins must play in the usual 4-3-3, privileging possession of the ball and positional attacks. The far right Lazaros Christodoulopoulos is the best finalist of Olympiakos in these qualifiers, with 4 goals scored. Absences will not be a serious problem for this reception at Burnley.

Burnley:

Until reaching this phase of the UEFA Europa League (Play-offs), the visiting team eliminated: İstanbul and Aberdeen. This is a team that usually gets better results in away matches than at home, since in the last 30 matches they register 5 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses in away matches, with 15 goals scored and 18 conceded; against 2 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses at their stadium, with 11 goals scored and 20 suffered. In their last match, for the Premier League, they lost to Watford at home (1-3). In the last 10 away matches Burnley has won 5, tied 4 and lost 1.

For this competition, record a sequence of 4 draws in the last matches.

The Burnley comes to this game without great reasons to smile, as he lost in the last match against Watford, by 1-3. In the previous round of the Europa League, the English needed the extension to overcome the Turks of Basaksehir. In this game away from home, coach Sean Dyche must keep the team at 4-4-1-1, being the most advanced position occupied by Chris Wood. Of note that Burnley has presented several flaws in the offensive organization and in the finalization. For this game the foreign trainer does not have Brady, Pope and Defour, players who recover from injury.