Olympiakos - Aston Villa predictions and free betting tips [09/05/2024]

The Conference League already knows one of its finalists, none other than the squad of "Fiorentina". However, who will manage to compete for the title of the third most prestigious European football tournament is a big question. "Olympiacos" and "Aston Villa" will vie for the place of the second contender for the Conference League trophy, and the final of this tournament will take place in Athens, a distinguished circumstance for a team from Piraeus. 

"Olympiacos"

The Greek players are putting all their efforts into their training towards the second match against "Aston Villa". Every "Olympiacos" player knows full well that a two-goal advantage doesn't guarantee a home final and that they can't simply rely on the results of the first game on their home ground. Jose Luis Mendilibar, the team's coach, must strike a balance between a solid defence and a moderate attack. It remains to be seen if the Spanish coach can lead "Olympiacos" to the Conference League final, given their handy buffer after the first match.

The Greeks did well in Birmingham, especially Ayoub El Kaabi, who scored a hat-trick, and Daniel Podence, whose passes were extraordinary—without them, "Olympiacos" certainly wouldn't have won in England. The key here is that this duo works as well in their home stadium in Piraeus. It'll be interesting to see who replaces the injured Francisco Ortega, who either won't play at all or will at least remain a substitute in this match. In any case, it's clear that "Olympiacos" will operate from a defensive stance, while not backing up too much to prevent "Aston Villa" from controlling the game.

"Aston Villa"

According to the Premier League table, the "Villains" have definitely snagged a spot in next season's Champions League. As a result, their match with "Brighton" didn't have much significance, and no one was really surprised by "Aston Villa's" loss—although it seemed that Unai Emery would shuffle his squad a bit and let the key players relax. But, all those players who played against "Olympiacos" at their home ground in Birmingham were out on the field, which was strange given the opportunity to rest players like Watkins or Bailey to better recover after the game with the Greek team.

In the first match with "Olympiacos", Emery's players made many errors in the defence, and Douglas Luiz became the anti-hero of the game, conceding a penalty and not scoring from the spot in the 84th minute. Musa Diaby scored a goal assist, but his effort wasn't enough to make a difference to the team's outcome. Watkins as usual did fairly well and even scored a goal against "Olympiacos", but there were times when his finishing let him down. However, "Aston Villa's" problems stemmed primarily from the defence, which made a slew of mistakes, leading to goals from the Greek team.

Personal meetings

In Birmingham, "Aston Villa's" defence failed, and the El Kaabi/Podence connection worked well. Douglas Luiz dropped the ball, so the 2:4 outcome of the first match was quite deserving.

Match prediction: "Olympiacos" - "Aston Villa"

I'm betting on P2 in the first half. If the Englishmen establish their dominance before the break, then they can anticipate a good second half, where the score on the scoreboard will determine their strategy.

Foul prediction for the match

Many violations, yellow, and even red cards are likely, so we place bets on fouls—for example, the option of TO 24.5 suits this match.