AEK Athens vs Brighton Prediction and Betting Tips: Back goals in Greece on Thursday
5:45pm on Thursday evening offers up an intriguing away visit to AEK Athens for Brighton in Group B of the Europa League.
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Following their 3-2 defeat to AEK Athens on gameweek 1, Brighton have secured seven points from their proceeding three fixtures, drawing with leaders Marseille before managing back-to-back victories against basement dwellers Ajax. A win for The Seagulls and anything less than a victory for Marseille this week would see Roberto De Zerbi's side take top spot, which is ultimately the goal for the Premier League side.
The home win over this opponent was Athens' first and only three points in this season's competition. Since then, Thursday's visitors drew with Ajax before falling twice to Marseille home and away. Domestically, they've won eight of their 12 games, so if progress to the knockout stages of the tournament is going to happen they'll need to channel that spirit in this home meeting with Brighton.
AEK Athens vs Brighton Tips
As most are already aware, Brighton have failed to keep a single clean sheet in 13 attempts during the current Premier League campaign, seeing BTTS land in 100% of their fixtures home and away in that competition. Their only two clean sheets of the season came in both head-to-heads with strugglers Ajax, while Europa League encounters with Marseille and Thursdays opponents saw four and five goals respectively, with both teams scoring in the two matches.
The Seagulls have won half of their PL away fixtures this term, picking up a further four points from their two European trips against the Group B leaders and the table's bottom placed club. Considering how Brighton have been defeated only once by Manchester City in their last nine games, winning two of their last three outings and how Athens have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their four UEL games, scoring in eight of their last nine, we like this 11/5 bet for Brighton to win and both teams to score.
Joao Pedro has eight goals in 18 appearances since joining Brighton from Watford this summer, netting four in four matches in the Europa League, including a brace in the 3-2 defeat to AEK Athens in September. The Brazilian also scored two goals in his last outing with Nottingham Forest last Saturday, showing signs of becoming a key attacker for De Zerbi's side.
Although there aren't as many goals flying in in Brighton's matches recently compared to the start of the season, 12 of their games have met this goals line, with this pair's last meeting and the away visit to Marseille both included in that figure. Brighton have shipped five in their last five, scoring eight during this time. Meanwhile, half of Athens' last eight fixtures have featured three or more goals, with this line of over 2.5 proving successful in two of the Greek side's four UEL outings this term.
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