Olympiacos vs Arsenal Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

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Joel Amorim Dec 08, 2015 @ 02:57 am

Next Wednesday, 9th of December 2015, Arsenal will travel to Greece to measure forces with Olympiacos at Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis in Piraeus for the final and decisive match of the UEFA Champions League Group Stage.

The odds are probably against Arsenal for next Wednesday’s match at Piraeus, especially if we bear in mind what happened at London back in September when Olympiacos beat the Gunners by 3-2. Arsenal need not only to defeat the Greek team but also to do better than last September’s result if they want to claw a place in the next stage of the competition.

Back in 2012, when both sides went head-to-head in Piraeus, Olympiacos overcame the Gunners by 2-1 with goals from Mitroglou and Maniatis. Rosicky gave Arsenal the lead in the first-half, but the Greek international duo gave their team the three points by netting two goals in just ten minutes.

In contrast to their bumpy UEFA Champions League campaign, Arsenal are currently in the second place of the English Premier League after defeating Sunderland last time out and after benefiting from Manchester City’s defeat against Stoke City. Even with a long injury list, Arsenal have been managing to overcome the obstacles and have only been defeated once in league matches since the end of September.

For next Wednesday’s important match, Arsene Wenger will not be able to rely on the contribution of Alexis Sanchez, Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla, Danny Welbeck, Coquelin, Jack Wilshere and Rosicky, all sidelined due to injury.

As for Olympiacos, the Piraeus side are going through a very positive moment in the Greek Super League after winning the 13 matches they’ve taken part in so far. Marco Silva’s men already have a 13-point advantage over AEK Athens, who currently occupy the second place of the table.

In their last outing, Olympiacos clawed a 4-3 win over Panthrakikos, who are currently at the bottom of the table, and cemented their position as undefeated league leaders.

Despite their good moment, Olympiacos weren’t able to withstand Bayern Munich’s firepower in their last Champions League outing and ended up defeated by 4-0 at Germany. The Greek side only needs one point from next Wednesday’s clash with Arsenal to claim a place in the next stage of the tournament.

Olympiacos

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WWWLW

Arsenal

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WDWLD

Possible Line-ups

Olympiacos (4-3-3) - Roberto - Elabdellaoui - da Costa - Siovas - Masuaku - Kasami - Cambiasso - Milivojevic - Pardo - Brown - Finnbogason

Arsenal (4-3-3) – Cech - Bellerin - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Ramsey - Flamini - Oxlade-Chamberlain - Ozil - Walcott - Giroud

Injury List / Suspended Players

Olympiacos - Bouchalakis (inj) - Maniatis (in doubt)

Arsenal - Rosicky (inj) - Welbeck (inj) - Wilshere (inj) - Arteta (inj) - Sanchez (inj) - Cazorla (inj) - Coquelin (inj)

Head-to-head matches:

League Positions