Saint Etienne vs AEK Athens predictions, betting tips & match preview

Saint Etienne started their pre-season really well. They beat Clermont convincingly 3-1 on the 2nd of July. Since then, their form has savagely nose-dived. They have now lost 3 in a row, losing to Tours, PSV & Lausanne Sport. Their latest conquerers, Lausanne Sport was the biggest defeat yet. The match finished 4-1. They have had 12 days to prepare for this Europa League fixture vs AEK Athens. We would say that a home advantage would be beneficial. However, all 4 pre-season matches have been at home and they have won only 1 of those 4.

At the other end of this extreme scale, AEK Athens have absolutely smashed their pre-season. They have played 5 friendlies, won all 5 and yet to concede!

In terms of summer transfers, it has been 4 in and 4 out for Saint Etienne. The squad looks very similar overall compared to last season. Long standing manager Christophe Galtier will be looking for more of the same in terms of style and play as last year, with St Etienne finishing 6th in Ligue 1.

Hugo Almeida is the standout player signing for AEK this summer. He and Dimitrios Anakoglou have signed from Hannover and Veria FC, respectively. Bruno Zuculini returns to Man City, with 4 other AEK players using the exit door for teams dotted all over Europe.

No.9 and top striker Nolan Roux managed to score 9 times in 29 appearances in Ligue 1 last season for St Etienne. He remains with the club for the start of the forthcoming season and is expected to play in Thursday’s match. Midfielder Ronald Vargas helped AEK find the net 9 times in 26 games. Helder Barbosa and Hristos Aravidis also scored 9 times. AEK will hope these 3 contribute the same, if not more, this season. This will be in an attempt to shoot down Olympiakos’ 30 points margin for winning the league.

The top 4 of the Greek Super League go into a Champions League and Europa League play off group. The winner of the group goes into the Champions League. 2nd and 3rd placed teams enter Europa League, with the 4th placed team not getting into a European competition.

As we mentioned above, AEK have won 5 of 5 pre-season games. They certainly seem to have hit the ground running this term. They have scored 12 goals in 5 games (2.4 goals a game) and conceded 0. St Etienne have played 5, won 1 and lost 4. They have scored 5 goals in 5 matches (1.00 per game) and conceded 9 goals in 5 fixtures (1.80 per game).

Our prediction for this opening leg of round 3 between these 2 sides is a 2-1 win for AEK Athens at a huge 18/1 with bet365. They have scored a good amount and in great form going into this game. However, we feel Saint Etienne are a side who can score goals when they apply pressure. With the crowd behind them and something needing to change after 3 defeats in 4 matches this summer, they will need to turn the gas on. We believe the bookies are hugely underrating AEK in this tie. Therefore, we are going for a betting tip of AEK Double Chance at 6/5 with bet365.