Young Boys vs Panathinaikos Predictions

• Fewer than three goals have been scored in eight of Panathinaikos’ 10 games this season
• Young Boys lost 1-0 to second-tier Aarau in the Swiss Cup on Saturday
• Panathinaikos have drawn five of their last nine matches either 0-0 or 1-1

Toothless Greeks take on Young Boys

Goals could be in short supply at Wankdorf Stadium on Thursday when Young Boys and Panathinaikos kick off their Europe League campaigns in the league phase.

Panathinaikos have been pretty toothless up front this season and that was one of the reasons why they parted company with Rui Vitoria, who had been unhappy with the quality of reinforcements the club signed in the summer.

Former assistant and caretaker boss Christos Kontis was brought back for another interim spell earlier this month and he oversaw a 1-1 derby draw with Olympiakos that was both encouraging and frustrating at the weekend. The Greens played quite well, but a stoppage-time equaliser from Ayoub El Kaabi denied them all three points.

Goalless games are prevalent in Panathinakos’ results

They will travel to Switzerland to face a Young Boys side that lost 1-0 to second-tier Aarau in the Swiss Cup on Saturday, halting a run of five consecutive wins. The Bern outfit finished bottom of the expanded Champions League league phase last season after losing all eight games and failing to score in five.

Giorgio Contini’s side should be much more comfortable in the Europa League where they are not going to come up against strikers like Robert Lewandowski, Mateo Retegui and Marcus Thuram. Dessers will probably lead the line for Panathinaikos again while YB’s front two is likely to be Chris Bedia and Christian Fassnacht.

Young Boys tend to create chances and usually score goals, but they prefer teams to come on to them and struggled against Aarau when they took an early lead and put everybody behind the ball. That will probably be Panathinaikos’ approach as they look to sit in and play on the counter-attack. Back a draw and under 2.5 goals for the main bet with a smaller wager on a 0-0 correct score due to its prevalence in Panathinaikos’ European results this term.