Greek League
2007-04-15 - AEK Athens vs Egaleo
A Sports Betting Pick by Dimitris
Both teams need the 3 points from that game, but for totally different reasons : AEK want to retain their Champions League hopes by remaining at the second place while Egaleo are struggling for survival in the Super LeagueAEK
For AEK the only goal at the moment is to finish second in the league and earn a Champions league spot for second consecutive year. They still have some hopes for the title but only in terms of math, because Olympiacos have to lose all their remaining four games. For this match AEK will miss regular defender Cirillo who is suspended and will be replaced by youngster Papastathopoulos who is a very talented player. Long time absentees Georgeas, Lagos,Hetemaj and Alexopoulos will also be missing, but AEK have a very rich squad plus none of them is a key player.
EGALEO
If anyone claimed that Egaleo would be below the relegation zone, four games before the end of the championship, when the first half was over and Egaleo lied in the top 6 teams, no one would believe him. But here they are struggling for survival. The morale in the squad is very low and the team is in a dreadful form. The worst thing is that at the moment no one seems to believe that the team can avoid relegation, and the performances surely reflect that fact. Egaleo will miss the natural leader and backbone of the midfield line Skopelitis.
HEAD TO HEAD
As you can see from past results, while Egaleo have never beaten AEK in the last years, they have not been an easy opponent as they have drawn 4 times in the 10 most recent matches, both at home and away. There is no clear trend towards under or over.
Egaleo : Athens AEK 0:2
Athens AEK : Egaleo 1:1
Athens AEK : Egaleo 1:0
Egaleo : Athens AEK 1:1
Athens AEK : Egaleo 2:2
Egaleo : Athens AEK 0:1
Athens AEK : Egaleo 3:2
Egaleo : Athens AEK 1:1
Egaleo : Athens AEK 1:3
Athens AEK : Egaleo 4:0
VERDICT
It's the first round of games after a two week postponement of football games due to the death of a fan in a fight, so it's quite risky to make predictions, because one can not rely on previous form (it is a month since the last Super League round of games). For this game AEK is the clear favourites. Egaleo will try to keep a clean sheet but i highly doubt they can achieve that goal. I believe AEK will dominate the game and have an easy afternoon. My bet for this game will be OVER 2.5 goals. Egaleo have had difficulties scoring in the last games, but if they score in this one overs is more that probable. Anyway AEK can easily score 3 goals against the sloppy Egaleo defense as they are superior in all aspects, my only concern for this pick is when AEK will stop pressing and also how the one month break affected the two teams
The Pick :
OVER 2.5 GOALS @ 1.9 at www.gamebookers.com
