For this one we will go to Greece, the island of Crete, the city of Heraklio and the Stadium of Theodoros Vardinogiannis (affectionately also known as Yedi Coulé). There, on January 8 at 18:00 GMT, the local team OFI will host PAS Lamia for the 17th Round of the Greek Super League. All things considered, this is going to be a closely fought pitched battle, promising some good profits.
The reason being, that we have two poorly performing sides that at some point will need to do something drastic to change the situation. Otherwise, the spectrum of relegation will show up and then things will even be worse.
It has not gone well for either side
The hosts have begun the championship well. In fact, they managed to clinch a surprising victory over the supposedly match better PAOK. However, they have not been doing so well lately. Only 2 points gathered in the last five matches with a record of 3 defeats and just 2 draws. In total, they count just 3 wins, 6 draws and 6 losses having scored 13 and conceded 22. However, things are not much better for their opponents.
If there’s something to keep from PAS Lamia is that their course went the opposite way. They started bad and got better after the first few rounds. Nevertheless, their record reads for a total of 4 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses. The goal tally is 17 in favor, 27 against. Currently, they are placed in 7th at the table, while the home team rank 9th. For the last five matches the visitors count exactly the same 3 defeats and 2 draws as their opponents.
From bad to worse
Both sides have difficult matches to play until the time they face each other. Baring a major upset, they will suffer more defeats as they are playing PAOK and Olympiacos respectively. Two contenders for the title. Which means that their morale will drop even lower. Especially if, according to the predictions, they suffer heavy losses with scores of over 3 goals in difference.
Typically, when things go this bad, it takes a shock to recover. Both clubs made changes recently hiring new managers. OFI switched Valdas Dambrauskas with Pepe Mel a couple of weeks ago. Probably it is too early yet for their work to begin paying dividends. So, it could very well be that the confrontation between them, may produce a reaction to the losing streak.
Hard odds
Even though OFI enjoy the home field advantage, the odds for their victory at this time are at a marginal @1.80. On the other hand, @5.25 for Lamia says that they are not expected to win. A draw, which is a quite possible result, gets @3.25. Since these odds are not interesting, we will wait for other markets. The way these two teams score and concede, we will be looking for the both teams to score offers and the over/under suggestions.
To be honest those odds are quite fragile. It’s not only the condition of the two teams. According to the weather predictions there’s going to be heavy rains next week, which will make it even more difficult to make a good prediction.
What to expect
Realistically speaking, the only certainty here is that it will be closely fought. Either with 2 sides attacking all the way, leaving their flanks wide open to counters, or by being too cautious, paying much attention to their defense, and looking to score on a fast break. Both sides have only a few key players to count on and opportunities to score are rather hard to come by. Especially with the difficult encounters next week. If any of them gets a suspension or an injury, then the odds will change radically.
There is more than a week left before this confrontation. As always, we will come back to this one 3 days before kick-off, to analyze the latest news, developments and data.
Update
When we wrote the preview on this one, we maintained our reservations for a major upset that could happen and tilt the balance in favor of one side or the other. Indeed, there has been such an incident. The visitors Lamia were to play a match against league contenders Olympiacos. Typically, they were supposed to lose it. However, they scored one at the 4th minute and managed to protect it until the end. Ostensibly, it’s a victory that must have boosted their morale through the roof!
On the other hand, OFI did indeed lose the match against PAOK. And it was a heavy defeat by 4-0 as expected. The Cretans are now just 4 points above the relegation zone and in a rather dire position. If there was a time to react, it is now. They need a win and they need it badly. The question is if their new manager can come up with a plan and a psychological handling that will give them the edge that they need.
Our final suggestion
The home field advantage says @1.892 for the home side and @4.170 for the visitors. Typically, both of them would produce some good profit. However, we believe that there will be a good number of goals scored on this one. In fact, we have a notion that the final score will be 2-1 for either side. Which means that we will suggest an Asian over 2.75 goals at @2.297. For us, it’s the wager that makes the most sense.
Now that you have our final proposal for the match between OFI and Lamia, we strongly recommend that you open an account at the best betting platform and make some good money out of it!