Aston Villa vs Olympiacos Piraeus Prediction & Betting Tips (2 May)

Losing LOSC in the quarter-finals, Aston Villa is clearly aiming for the Conference title in order to validate with a trophy its good season in the championship where it is competing for a place in the Champions League in the top 4. Coming back to Lille , the Londoners suffered more than expected by being sent to the fateful penalty shootout where a great "controversial" Martinez disgusted the Lille and qualified his team for the last four. Note also that the locals beat Ajax in the round of 16, defeating the Dutch on the return leg at Villa Park 4-0. Between the night of the qualifier in the North of France and this evening, Villa played against Bournemouth winning 3-1 and facing Chelsea last weekend in the championship 2-2. Casually, these two posters were important since the team coached by Unai Emery was able to take off in the race for the top 4 in the Premier League and was able to remain undefeated for a 4th and 5th matches in all competitions.

Olympiakos is successful this season on a European level since the U19s won the Youth League by beating Nantes TAB and AC Milan in the final 3-0 and the seniors are therefore in the running in the Europa Conference League by playing this last four. Largely outsiders in the previous round against the Turkish monster Fenerbahce, the Greek club did not care about its status and allowed itself to sweep the team led by Dzeko, Tadic and company after the penalty shootout 3-3 after overtime on both matches. The Piraeus club is also engaged in the championship title race and played no less than three matches between the evening of qualification and this first round: against PAOK in a first 2-1 victory, on the pitch of the 'Aris Salonika in a second 1-1 and finally against Lamia last weekend 3-1 victory. Still 4th in its championship, Olympiakos on the other hand came back to 5 points with 1 game in hand to play behind the leader.

Aston Villa is not spared from physical problems with the absences of former Marseillais Kamara, Argentinian Buendia, captain Mings, replacement left-back Moreno (2 goals in 20 PL appearances this season) and Jacob Ramsey (rotation). Affected this weekend, executive midfielder Tielemans joined the infirmary. Against LOSC two weeks ago, Zaniolo (2 goals in the league) left prematurely due to injury and could be just this evening (absent in the league against Chelsea), while goalkeeper Martinez will be suspended following a 2nd yellow taken during of the penalty shootout against LOSC. Literally indecent this season on a personal level, Watkins (19 goals, 12 assists in the PL) will be present in the group like Bailey (10 goals, 9 assists in the league), Douglas Luiz (9 goals, 5 assists in the PL) or again for the experienced McGinn (3 pawns, 3 offerings in C4) and the French international Moussa Diaby (6 goals, 7 offerings in PL). On the Greek side, two players will be absent for this game due to suspension, in occurrence the left winger Masouras (accumulation of yellow cards, 7 goals, 4 assists in the league)) and the central defender replacing Ntoi (excluded against Fenerbahce in the return match). On the other hand, in this little game, Retsos (23 appearances in the league this season) will return from suspension while the Frenchman Fadiga (ex-PSG) and Leidner (not an appearance this season) are injured and OUT.

Finally, Navarro (5 goals in the league) and the former Trojan Biancone are not included on the list of qualified players in C4. In this competition and in the championship, the Moroccan striker El Kaabi shines (17 pawns in the championship, 5 in C4). Ditto for Fortounis (6 goals, 6 assists in the league) author of 2 goals and 3 cakes in the Europa Conference League. Let's not forget to mention boys like Podence (on loan from Wolverhampton, 10 goals, 5 assists in the league) and Masouras (7 pawns, 4 pancakes). Former Monaco striker Jovetic was preserved last weekend in the championship.