Matchday 7 in the Greek "Super Liga" has left many fans of the Big 3 (Olympiakos, Panathinaikos and AEK) bewildered. Panathinaikos drew 2-2 with Iraklis at home and followed that by losing midweek against Ergotelis 2-3, also at home. Olympiakos has now lost two in a row in all competitions with a 1-0 defeat away to Galatasaray, and another loss away to Aris by the same margin. AEK are also in terrible form with 3 draws and 1 loss in their last 4 matches. In their last outing, AEK managed to squander a 3-0 half time lead to cellar dwellers Thrasyvoulos to eventually hang on for a 3-3 draw. In other results, the 'fourth biggest' side in Greece, PAOK, continued in their rich vein of form as they cut down Olympiakos' lead to one point on the top of the ladder after a good, solid home win against Levadeiakos (3-1). Panionios blasted five goals at Ergotelis (2-5), Panthrakikos won 2-1 in Larissa and Xanthi got a 2-1 home win against Panserraikos. OFI visited Asteras Tripolis and came away with a respectable 2-2 draw.Onto Matchday 8 then and there are some interesting games on Saturday to kick off the round. Levadeiakos do battle against Panserraikos, Larissa visit Aris in Thessaloniki and Panionios playing host to Panathinaikos. Sunday kicks off with OFI versus Xanthi and Panthrakikos visit the improving Thrasyvoulos in a fixture that was common place in the B' Ethniki not too long ago. Big shots AEK host Asteras Tripolis and Olympiakos host Ergotelis. Football Analysis' game of the week sees Iraklis play host to PAOK as the other 'big 3' have failed to deceive in recent times. Being a derby, Iraklis will try and build on last weekend's fine away point to Panathinaikos by going for the win in front of a fever pitched home crowd.
Matchday 7 Results
Larissa 1 - 2 Panthrakikos
Asteras Tripoli 2 - 2 OFI Crete
PAOK Salonika 3 - 1 Levadiakos
FC Xanthi 2 - 1 Panserraikos
Ergotelis 2 - 5 Panionios
Panathinaikos 2 - 2 Iraklis
Aris Salonika 1 - 0 Olympiakos
Thrasivoulos 3 - 3 AEK Athens
Postponed Matchday 5 Result
Panathinaikos 2 - 3 Ergotelis
Saturday, 1st November
Levadeiakos - Panserraikos
Summary: Levadeiakos in 10th place, Panserraikos in 12th, with just one point seperating the two teams this game brings up a good opportunity to make some distance away from the relegation drop. Levadeiakos is the only team in the Greek Super League that still holds a clean sheet in home matches but in the other hand Panserraikos has a decent away game record where they have picked up 6 of their 7 points this season. No missing players for the home team while Panserraikos will have defender Robert Petrov out due to injury.
Pick: Levadeiakos to Win (possible result 1-0)
Levadeiakos 0 - 0 Panserraikos
Aris - Larissa
Summary: Aris is coming into this home match with a brilliant win over Olympiakos (1-0) but will want that to be a stepping stone to better results as they are currently in 9th place and are capable of so much more. Larissa was dissapointing in front of their fans last match losing 1-2 against Panthrakikos. Larissa are currently in 5th place and have a good away record with one win, two draws. For Aris a full squad will be available with only Argentine midfielder Roberto Battion missing due to injury. Larissa has a few players missing with that of Mbo Mpenza, Dino Seremet, Stylianos Venetidis, Walter Matías Iglesias, Naim Aarab and Laurent Robert.
Pick: Aris to Win (possible result 2-1)
Aris 0 - 0 Larissa
Panionios - Panathinaikos
Summary: Panionios will be in high spirits after last weekends massive win away to Ergotelis by 2-5. Recoba and Choutos both scored a brace while midfielder Bennard Yao Kumordzi also got on the scoreboard. Panathinaikos coach Hank Ten Cate will be feeling the pressure after last weekends 2-2 draw at home with Iraklis and mid-weeks 2-3 loss also at home to Ergotelis. Panionios will be without French defender Fousseni Diawara but coach Ewald Lienen will be happy to have most of his squad available for the big match. The Panathinaikos coach has left out of the squad Orestis Karnezis, Antonis Petropoulos, Nikos Spiropoulos, Alexandros Tziolis, Rodrigo Souza, Ante Rukavina, Sotiris Leontiou, Andreas Ivanschitz and Christos Melissis; Most missing due to injuries. Let's see then if Alvaro Recoba and crew can create another great performance.
Pick: Panionios +0,0.5 (possible result 2-1)
Panionios 1 - 2 Panathinaikos
Sunday, 2nd November
Olympiakos - Ergotelis
Summary: Ergotelis made a brilliant bounce back, after the 2-5 home loss to Panionios from last weekend, mid-week when they defeated struggling Panathinaikos away by a 2-3 scoreline. New Greek starlet Vassilis Koutsianikoulis (described by Greek media as "The Greek Messi") was very influential scoring 2 goals and went on to set up Croatian striker Mario Budimir in the 62nd minute for the winning goal that left Pana fans in shock. Ergotelis will have most of their squad available with 2 doubts to make the squad in defenders Charis Mattheakis and Labros Kefaloukos. Olympiakos still encounter a long list of injuries with Leonardo and Fernando Belluschi to miss out while doubtful are Paraskevas Antzas, Raúl Bravo and Ieroklis Stoltidis. Christos Patsatzoglou and Didier Domi will be included for the Sunday match. So without influential midfielder Fernando Belluschi and an Ergotelis full of confidence this match will not be so easy for the home team.
Pick: Ergotelis +1.5,2 (possible result 1-1)
Olympiakos 2 - 0 Ergotelis
Iraklis - PAOK
Summary: Iraklis and PAOK had good results last weekend with Iraklis stealing a point away to Panathinaikos while PAOK closed in on leaders Olympiakos within one point after a confident home win against Levadeiakos which saw strikers Zlatan Muslimovic and Ibrahima Bakayoko getting on the scoreboard. For Iraklis one from Greek midfielder Emmanouil Papasterianos and another by striker Francisco Kiko almost saw them take three points in Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium last weekend only for Panathinaikos captain Dimitris Salpigidis to level it in injury time. Iraklis will be without Cypriot striker Michalis Konstantinou and defender Kosta Foufoula due to injuries while there is a good possibility that strikers Anestis Agritis and Aggelos Komvolidis will be able to play in the home fixture. For PAOK Pablo Garcia, Joe Bizera Ilias Anastasakos and Stefanos Athanasiadis are set to miss the match while there will be returns for Vangelis Georgiou and Kostas Chalkias.
Pick: PAOK 0 level ball (possible result 1-2)
Iraklis 1 - 1 PAOK
OFI - Skoda Xanthi
Summary: Xanthi hold steady in 3rd place in the ladder one point behind PAOK and two behind leaders Olympiakos with their only loss on the opening day against the current leaders. They also have a brilliant away record with 2 wins, 2 draws and without a single goal conceeded. And as we are not sure if we are going to see an OFI who wants to play or not, an away win is very much possible. Doubtful for Xanthi then are defenders Juan Pablo Avedano, Giannis Papadimitriou and Stavros Tziortziopoulos while there is a return to the squad for Angolan midfielder Francisco Zuela. OFI will be glad to see both Pierre Issa and Dame N'Doye overcoming their slight injuries while doubtful are Nikos Kounenakis, Jovan Kostovski and Sinisa Gagula. Xanthi striking pair Sebastián Penco and Victor Agali could be the difference if their defence can hold off the threat of Panathinaikos loan striker Dame N'Doye.
Pick: Xanthi +0,0.5 (possible result 0-2)
OFI 0 - 2 Xanthi
AEK - Asteras Tripolis
Summary: Both teams drew last week rather surprisingly considering their opposition. Asteras Tripolis at home took the lead twice only to get pegged back both times by OFI striker Dame Ndoye. But the bigger shock of the two was that of AEK's away draw to Thrasyvoulos. AEK lead at half time by 3 -0 thanks to two goals by midfielder Ignacio Scocco and one goal by striker Ismael Blanco. The game finished 3-3 with Thrasyvoulos equalising back in the second half in the same fashion with two by striker Goncalves within five minutes and tequalised through midfielder substitute Alves. AEK coach Giorgios Donis has left out of the squad for another week Gustavo Manduca, Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Angelos Basinas all due to injuries that have not been quite overcome yet. For Asteras coach Carlos Carvalhal will have a full squad to choose from with only defender Jean Carlos Donde missing due to an injury he picked up in mid-weeks 1-0 win over Apollon Kalamaria in the Greek Cup.
Pick: AEK to Win (possible result 2-1)
AEK 2 - 1 Asteras
Panthrakikos - Thrasyvoulos
Summary: Panthrakikos got a great win away to Larissa (1-2) last weekend to stay just clear of the relegation spots thanks to a brace by striker Abdou Diallo. Thrasyvoulos got a fantastic draw in front of their fans against AEK (3-3). Judging by the scoreline from last seasons match battled out in B Ethniki this game should have a few goals in it. Panthrakikos will be without Fotis Konstantinidis, Xenofon Gittas and Okan Yilmaz while doubtful are Ludovic Clement, Aleix Vidal and Abdul Diallo. Defender Emanuele Troise will be on a leave of absence and also will miss the Sunday match for Panthrakikos. Thrasyvoulos will travel with a full squad with onlyCarlos Marcora missing due to injury.
Pick: Thrasyvoulos +0.5 (possible result 2-3)
Panthrakikos 1 - 0 Thrasyvoulos
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