Olympiacos vs Aston Villa: Preview, Prediction & Betting Tips

Aston Villa make the trip to Greece to take on Olympiacos in the second leg of the Europa Conference League Semi Finals. Villa were served a brutal defeat at home and will be looking to avenge that loss in the second leg.

Date: 09/05/2024

Kick off time: 20:00

Location: Karaiskakis Stadium

The first leg defeat was the first loss for Aston Villa at home in the Europa Conference League and despite having a big mountain to climb, Villa will be looking to make the difference. Olympiacos, however, will be using the home advantage to book a spot in the Final.

Olympiacos currently sits fourth in the Super League Greece after 33 games. The Red and Whites have 22 wins, four draws and seven losses, leaving them on 70 points, five points from the top of the league.

This is the first time Olympiacos have competed in the Europa Conference League. However, Olympiacos have competed in the other levels of European competition. In the Europa League, Olympiacos have made it to the Round of 16 stage and in the Champions League, Olympiacos made it to the Quarter Finals in 1999 where they lost 3 - 2 on aggregate to Juventus.

Aston Villa currently sit fourth in the Premier League after 36 games. Villa have 20 wins, seven draws and nine losses which leaves them on 67 points, seven points clear for Champions League football next season.

This is also Aston Villa’s first time competing in the Europa Conference League but prior to this the only recent European experience Aston Villa have had is in Europa League Qualifying. In 2010, Villa lost 2 - 2 on away goals to Rapid Vienna in the Fourth Round and in 2011 they lost 4 - 3 on aggregate to Rapid Vienna in the Qualifying Round.

Olympiacos and Aston Villa have met just once, that being the first leg of this Semi Final. The first leg brought a lot of goals and with the stakes on the game the second leg could promise even more.

Both sides have been amongst the goals this season, with Olympiacos scoring 64 goals in 33 games, an average of 2.24 goals a game. Villa have also scored 73 goals in 35 games which is an average of 2.10 goals a game.

Olympiacos Team News

José Luis Mendilibar only has one injury to manage, that being to Giulian Biacone. However, his main issue is the ineligibility of players such as Fran Navarro, Nelson Abbey, Ivan Brnic, Gelson Martins, Jovane and Rúben Vezo all unable to play.

Aston Villa Team News

Unai Emery has Boubacar Kamara, Emiliano Buendia, Tyrone Mings and Jacob Ramsey out for the rest of the season. However, Youri Tielemans and Emi Martinez can return.

In their last five games in all competitions, Olympiacos have four wins and one draw.

The second leg of the Europa Conference League Quarter Finals saw Olympiacos in Turkey to take on Fenerbahçe. After the 1 - 0 win in the first leg, Olympiacos had the upper hand, however, the early goal from Irfan Kahveci was unanswered by a ten-man Olympiacos who had Andreas Ndoj sent off late in extra time. The subsequent penalty shootout saw Dušan Tadić, Cengiz Übder and Leonardo Bonucci all miss to give Olympiacos the 3 - 2 win.

Back in the Super League Greece Play-offs, Olympiacos hosted PAOK. Quini opened the scoring in the 27th minute to give Olympiacos the 1 - 0 lead at halftime and Gelson Martins doubled the lead on the hour mark. Marcos Antônio did score in extra time for PAOK but Olympiacos held on for the 2 - 1 win.

After a goalless first half, Lorenzo Jesús Morón Garcia gave Aris the lead just minutes into the second half but Ayoub El Kaabi equalised for Olympiacos just five minutes later. However, Olympiacos couldn’t convert any of their other eight shots on target and had to settle for the 1 - 1 draw.

Both Chiquinho and Navarro found the back of the net in the first half to give Olympiacos the 2 - 0 lead over Lamia at halftime. Daniel Podence added another early in the second half but Zoran Tošić then got Lamia on the scoresheet. In extra time Sotiris Alexandropoulos added the fourth to wrap up a 4 - 1 win for Olympiacos.

In their last five games in all competitions, Aston Villa have two wins, one draw and two losses.

The second leg of the Europa Conference League Quarter Finals saw Villa in France to take on Lille. Villa were in a good position after winning the first leg 2 - 1 but goals from Yusuf Yazici and Benjamin Andre gave Lille the 2 - 0 lead with 20 minutes to go. However, a late goal from Matty Cash forced the tie to extra time and then to penalties. Misses from Andre and Nabil Bentaleb gave Villa the 4 - 3 win.

Back in the Premier League, Aston Villa hosted Bournemouth. A penalty from Dominic Solanke gave Bournemouth the lead but Morgan Rogers equalised before halftime. Moussa Diaby and Leon Bailey both scored in the second half to give Villa the 3 - 1 win.

An own goal from Marc Cucurella gave Villa the lead in the fourth minute and Rogers doubled the lead before halftime. Noni Madueke got Chelsea on the scoresheet on the hour mark and Conor Gallagher brought them level with ten minutes to go. Axel Disasi thought he had won it but VAR intervened as the game finished 2 - 2.

The last time out for Aston Villa was against Brighton. Joao Pedro scored the only goal of the game in the 87th minute to give Brighton the 1 - 0 win with Villa having just two shots with one of them on target.

The first leg of the Europa Conference League saw Villa host Olympiacos. El Kaabi scored twice before the half hour mark to give Olympiacos the 2 - 0 lead but Ollie Wakins got Villa on the scoresheet before halftime. Diaby drew Villa level early in the second half but El Kaabi completed his hat-trick and was joined on the scoresheet by Santiago Hezze in the 4 - 2 win for Olympiacos.

The first leg of the Semi Finals was one to forget for Aston Villa but it's unlikely to happen again, with this leg likely to end in a draw with Watkins on the scoresheet for Villa. Olympiacos 1 - 1 Aston Villa

Olympiacos vs Aston Villa will be shown on TNT Sports in the U.K. but the game can also be followed online on BBC Sport or Sky Sports.

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