Olympiakos vs Luzern Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Olympiakos are one of the bigger names involved in Europa League Qualifying and they make their entry into this season’s competition here against Luzern of Switzerland. The winners of this tie could well get Premier League side Burnley in the next round and it’s certainly the Greeks who will be expected to get through.

Last season was an incredibly chaotic one for Olympiakos, with coaches coming and going and plenty of off-field problems. It’s perhaps no surprise they could only manage a poor 3rd place finish in the Greek Super League. Pedro Martins took over late in the campaign and will be hoping to lay some more solid foundations as Olympiakos kick off the new season here having received a bye until this point.

The same applies to Luzern but they have at least started their league campaign so they could have a slight fitness advantage. However they’ve not been that impressive, losing two of their opening three league games as they aim to try to match an impressive 3rd place finish in the Swiss Super League last term. They have a fairly shocking European record though and you have to go back to the 1992-93 season for the last time they won a two-legged continental tie.

On paper the Greek side are much the stronger team but it has been turbulent times for them, so there’s an element of unpredictability as to how they will start the new season. Backing this game to produce goals may be the value bet, with Olympiakos probably not worth the risk at odds as short as 2/5 for the win.

They’ve at times looked weak defensively in pre-season, suffering 4-0 defeats against both Genk and PSV, so Luzern will have seen a few cracks that they could exploit and grabbing an away goal will be key to their chances next week, so the visitors may decide it’s worth at least throwing some caution to the wind here.

Their last four competitive away games have all produced over 2.5 goals in total and they’ve only failed to score in 1 of their last 10 away in all competitions. That should give them some belief here but they have looked quite weak at the back so far this term. They’ve conceded twice in all of their three league matches this season and it’s hard to see them keeping Olympiakos’ forward players quiet here.

Overall going for Over 2.5 Goals could be the way to go.