Olympiacos v Wolves: Both sides to oblige in Greece

WOLVES travel to Olympiacos in the first leg of their Europa League Last 16 fixture on Thursday. Chris Clark (@ChrisClark1975) shares his verdict.

Olympiacos v Wolves | Thursday 12th March 2020, 20:00 | BT Sport

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men continue their European journey in Greece on Thursday night, against Arsenal’s conquerors Olympiakos. The Greeks have a fair record against English teams at home in European competition, having lost only four times out of 16. It’s away (barring that trip to the Emirates) that they struggle as they’ve lost 13 in 16 at Premier League clubs.

Olympiakos’ main threat in their Champions League campaign earlier this season was Daniel Podence – he ran Tottenham ragged in the Champions League group stage match in Piraeus. Podence scored a magical goal. Where is Podence now? He’s plying his trade at Molineaux after joining Wolves for £16m in the January transfer window.

Yes, another Portuguese international joining Wolves. Whilst Nuno the manager won’t complain, Jorge Mendes role in the acquisition of players at Wolves has to be looked into, but that’s a story for another day.

First leg of European ties, be it in the Champions League or in this case the Europa League, tend to be cagey affairs, with neither side looking to be out of the tie by the time the second leg starts. You can certainly see that being the case in Greece.

Olympiakos have only lost games in Europe this season. Their record in domestic football is exceptional. They’ve won 20 and drawn six times so far this season. In fact Arsenal’s victory in the first leg of the Last 32 tie was overlooked, in my opinion. It was an exceptional result.

So how will Wolves fair? Well Wolves only defeat away from home in Europe this term was in the last round against Espanyol. However, the Old Gold were 4-0 up from the first leg. They’ve won in Besiktas and Bratislava and drawn in Braga. What shouldn’t be overlooked, is that they’ve scored in every away game, and with the pace of Diogo Jota and Adama Traore and the excellent target man of skills Raul Jimenez, they will always be a threat.

Olympiakos meanwhile have only failed to score in one home European game this season, the aforementioned Arsenal game. Therefore, Both Teams To Score at 21/20 with Sport Nation looks the value bet here.

Jota is a man in form in the Europa League, he has two hat-tricks in the tournament so far. Admittedly both coming in home ties against Besiktas and Espanyol, however, he recently popped up twice in the Premier League at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and Jota to keep up his fine form is 14/5 with Ladbrokes to score anytime in Greece.