Anderlecht vs Olympiakos Betting Tips & Predictions

Anderlecht continued their recent run of good form with a win over Zulte-Waragem on Saturday, taking their recent record to three wins and one draw and continuing their Belgian Pro League title challenge.

They remain in 3^rd position after their victory, four points adrift of Club Brugge and Gent in 1^st and 2^nd place respectively.

But I’m not expecting Anderlecht to take the Europa League lightly at all, and I think we’ll see a full strength side put out on Thursday as they go on the hunt for a continental trophy.

Olympiakos have the luxury of being able to rest players domestically as well though. They hold a huge 16 point lead over AEK Athens in the Greek Super League, and it looks like a foregone conclusion that they will lift the trophy again at the end of the season.

They actually saw their lead at the top of the table narrowed at the weekend though, as 2^nd placed AEK Athens beat them 1-0 to end their run of 13 matches without defeat. 11 of those 13 games have seen Olympiakos win, and their last defeat was against Arsenal in the final group game of the Champions League.

They will still be disappointed at the manner of their Champions League exit though. They went in to their final group game against Arsenal in prime position to qualify ahead of the out of form Gunners, but a 3-0 defeat at home to Arsene Wenger’s saw them pushed down to 3^rd position in a miraculous turn of events on Arsenal’s part.

Anderlecht are in decent scoring form at the moment, but I think they’ll have a much tougher time against the improved defence of an Olympiakos side who are looking to keep it tight and take a result back to Greece with them. Olympiakos have only conceded two goals in their last six matches, but have only scored twice themselves in the last three outings.

This, plus the fact that it’s a nervy first leg of the Europa League knockout rounds, makes a low scoring match look likely. Odds of 3/4 for Under 2.5 Goals looks good to me, and I think an 1-0 win for Anderlecht at 7/1 is a good prediction as well.