AEK Athens welcome Marseille to the Agia Sofia Stadium this Thursday in match day four of the Europa League. Both sides sit in the qualification spots but need a win to put space between them and those below them.
AEK Athens currently sit second in Group B after three games. The Greek side have one win, one draw and one loss which leaves them on four points. This is equal to Brighton but AEK Athens have the head-to-head advantage.
In their last five games in all competitions, AEK have three wins, one draw and one loss. Domagoj Vida, Lazaros Rota and Harold Moukodi all scored in the 3 - 0 thrashing of Panetolikos which saw AEK Athens register 25 shots in comparison to Panetolikos’ eight shots. Niclas Eliasson, Milad Mohammadi and Steven Zuber all scored in another 3 - 0 for AEK Athens, this time against a ten-man Asteras Tripolis who had Pepe Castano sent off early in the second half.
Next was the 3 - 1 loss to Marseille in the Europa League where AEK Athens only managed 39% of the possession and two shots on target with Cican Stankovic also dismissed in the second half. However, AEK Athens bounced back in the Super League Greece against PAOK. Orbelin Pineda and Eliasson both scored in the 2 - 0 win for AEK Athens, where they restricted PAOK to just two shots on target.
The last time out for AEK was against Kifisia. An own goal from Morgan Schneiderlin gave AEK Athens the lead in the 58th minute, but a goal from Nikos Vafeas in the 85th minute drew Kifisia level as the game finished 1 - 1.
Marseille, however, sit top of Group B. In three games, Marseille have one win and two draws, leaving them on five points, one point above AEK Athens and Brighton.
In their last five games in all competitions Marseille have two wins, two draws and a loss. Chancel Mbemba Mangulu opened the scoring against Brighton and Jordan Veretout doubled Marseille’s lead just a minute later. However, a goal from Pascal Gross and a late penalty from Joao Pedro drew Brighton level as the game finished 2 - 2. Back in Ligue 1 Marseille faced Le Havre. An own goal from Arouna Sangante opened the scoring for Marseille and goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ismaila Sarr gave Marseille the 3 - 0 win over ten-man Le Havre who had Rassoul Ndiaye sent off in the first half.
Leonardo Balerdi was sent off in the 78th minute for Marseille against Nice, who through Evann Guessand would take the lead just a minute later. This turned out to be the only goal of the game as Nice beat Marseille 1 - 0. Marseille bounced back against AEK Athens in the Europa League with a 3 - 1 win.
The most recent outing for Marseille was against Lille. Neither side could find the back of the net as the game finished 0 - 0 with Marseille registering just three shots on target.
AEK Athens and Marseille have met just once which was last time out in the Europa League. Vitinha opened the scoring for Marseille in the first half but Pineda equalised early in the second half. However, Stankovic was then shown red which opened the floodgates. Amine Harit then converted the penalty and Veretout converted another penalty as Marseille picked up a 3 - 1 win.