PAOK vs Fiorentina Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

PAOK returned from their short Champions League hiatus this season, but they couldn’t manage to overcome Ajax in the 3rd qualifying round and crashed out of the competition at the first time of asking. They did a lot better in their Europa League playoff tie with Dinamo Tbilisi though, winning 5-0 on aggregate to make it to the group stages.

The Greek Super League campaign has since kicked off, with a draw at Veria opening the season with disappointment, but then getting off the mark on Sunday with a 2-1 win at home to Panaitolikos.

The summer has also seen some movement in the transfer market for PAOK. They lost talented winger Robert Mak to Zenit and goalkeeper Robin Olsen also left. They have brought in Fernando Varela at the back and a couple of attackers in Djalma and Diego Biseswar. Overall I think this is an improvement on their squad, but it could take a while for them to adjust to the PAOK setup.

Fiorentina have been involved in a lot of action through the summer. They lost left back Fernando Alonso to Chelsea on transfer deadline day, and striker Mario Gomez and midfielder Marko Bakic have also left. Centre back Davide Astori has signed with Fiorentina permanently though, whilst Cristian Tello has returned on loan for a second season. Goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski and teenage right sided players Kevin Diks and Ianis Hagi are also among the new arrivals.

Their signings didn’t exactly pay dividends in their pre-season friendlies though, with all of their five friendly matches ending in defeat and their Serie A opener against Juventus seeing them lose too. They did manage to get three points on the board at the end of August with a 1-0 win over Chievo, but their game at Genoa at the weekend was postponed under half an hour into the game due to a heavy rainstorm.

Despite this inconvenient postponement, at least Fiorentina have managed to get a win on the board this season. They will feel they are big favourites to finish top of this group, whilst PAOK are second favourites ahead of Qarabag and Slovan Liberec.

I think this could be a tough match for Fiorentina though. They have looked far from convincing in the early stages of this season, even in the first 30 minutes of their game against Genoa, and are facing a PAOK side who have a decent record at home in the Europa League. The hosts have won four and drawn three of their last seven home games in the competition, including a draw against Borussia Dortmund, a 6-0 hammering of Lokomotiva Zagreb, and a 5-0 thrashing of Brondby.

Fiorentina have only won two of their last six away days in the Europa League as well, so odds of 2.050 for a PAOK 0.0 Asian Handicap Win look very good value to me. I’m going for a 1-0 correct score prediction at 6/1 as well.