F91 Dudelange vs Olympiakos Predictions

F91 Dudelange take on Olympiakos Piraus at the Stade Jos Nosbaum in Luxembourg on Thursday hoping to avoid their third straight defeat in UEFA Europa League Group F.

The Luxembourgian outfit have little experience of competing European football and their lack of top-level knowhow has counted against them in the Europa League so far this season.

F91 Dudelange had to come through three sets of double-legged, pre-qualification games to make it to the Group Stage proper of the UEL, and really, earning their spot in the competition was seen as a huge achievement for the club. Anything after that could be considered bonus territory.

Head Coach Dino Toppmöller watched his side lose 1-0 at home to Milan on match day one in Group F in a contest where Dudelange were largely competitive. A second half Gonzalo Higuain goal was enough to secure the victory for Rossoneri, who didn’t have an easy time of it in Luxembourg.

Dudelange lost 0-3 away at Real Betis on match day two, though the Spaniards added gloss to the scoreline by netting twice inside the last ten minutes. That brace of UEL defeats remain Dudelange’s only couple of reverses in nine, though the gap in quality between their domestic opponents and their continental adversaries is a pretty big one.

On paper, the visitors to the Stade Josy Barthel Stadium this Thursday, Olympiakos, are much stronger than their hosts. The Greeks are in something of a rut at present however, having won none of their most recent four games.

Goalscoring has been a real problem for the Erythrolefkoi of late, and Olympiakos have only registered four goals in total on their last seven outings. We shouldn’t expect a flurry of goalmouth action this week then, though the Greeks will still expect to take the points.

Olympiakos started their Group F campaign with a 0-0 draw at home to Betis, before they were eased aside 3-1 in Italy by AC Milan. New Head Coach Pedro Martins, who joined the club in the summer, would have identified Thursday’s fixture as an ideal opportunity to kick their campaign into gear.

The Greeks have only lost three of their last nine on the road in the Europa League and even with their problems in the goalscoring department, they should have enough in their locker to scrape past Dudelange. We recommend taking the away win and under 2.5 goal combo for Thursday’s fixture.

Under 2.5 goals were scored in six of Olympiakos’ last seven fixtures in total and Dudelange have yet to break their duck in Group F. Our correct score prediction follows along the same lines and we’re tipping Olympiakos to win 1-0.