Atromitos vs Apollon Smyrnis
Competition: Greece Cup
Date: 23 January 2019
Kick-off: 14:00 CET
Disgusting… From a neutral football fan’s point of view, disgusting… The game between Xanthi and Atromitos on Sunday was decided, pretty much, by the referee’s decision to award a penalty to Xanthi in the 58th minute. Matías Castro entered Atromitos’ box, he caused himself to stumble by “blocking” one of his feet with the other one, fell on the ground, and the referee showed at the penalty spot. The closest assistant didn’t see anything, Greece’s football authorities keep postponing introducing VAR for all sorts of ridiculous reasons, 2-1, end of story. Atromitos’ players were left gutted, but… they still had to leave Xanthi empty-handed. They fell 4th in the Super League table, on 29 points, after AEK’s win over Asteras Tripolis. Great news for the Peristeri side is that attacking midfielder/winger Amr Warda is back. He had an incredible season there last year, on loan from PAOK, and he returns there once again on loan from PAOK. Left-back Dimitris Giannoulis made the opposite trip, from Atromitos to PAOK.
If you’re sitting last in the table of your league, and you’re hosting the second-to-last, and you fail to win, then… you don’t really-really deserve to claim that you belong to that division… No goals in Saturday’s game between Apollon Smyrnis and Levadiakos, a bitter for both 0-0, but mostly for Apollon, who are well-stuck at the bottom of the Super League table, on just six points from 17 matches. They signed several new guys, others left, but it feels like their mission to avoid relegation is… not impossible, but very close to that.
Previous five matches:
Xanthi vs Atromitos 2-1
Atromitos vs Panetolikos 2-2
Apollon Smyrnis vs Atromitos 0-3
Thyella Kamari vs Atromitos 0-8
Panathinaikos vs Atromitos 1-0
Apollon Smyrnis vs Levadiakos 0-0
AEL Larissa vs Apollon Smyrnis 3-0
Apollon Smyrnis vs Atromitos 0-3
Trikala vs Apollon Smyrnis 1-1
Apollon Smyrnis vs Xanthi 1-0
Atromitos’ next game is at Lamia, on Sunday. A day earlier, Apollon will have visited PAS Giannina (both Super League matches).
Atromitos vs Apollon Smyrnis: Head to head Stats
Back in 2017, Atromitos and Apollon drew 1-1 in Peristeri. In 2013, the hosts had won 2-0. Before that, they hadn’t hosted Apollon since 2004.
Atromitos vs Apollon Smyrnis: Prediction
Atromitos won 0-3 at Apollon in the first leg, so there is zero doubt regarding which team will be in the quarterfinals. The hosts don’t need to win, but I still expect them to.
Atromitos vs Apollon Smyrnis: Betting Tips
Atromitos’ -1.5 handicap is at 2.05, suiting my hunch that they will win by at least two goals. Their win combined with “over 1.5” is at 1.70.
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