H2H: AEK Athens vs Zorya Luhansk – Prediction (Europa League

H2H: Athens v Luhansk – Comparison.

Whilst AEK’s Ukrainian defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy has won all 13 games he’s played against Zorya, it was Croatian Marko Livaja who netted a brace against them on UEL matchday three. Vladyslav Kochergin scored in the reverse fixture – three of his last four goals for Zorya came after the 60th minute. Just one of Zorya’s last ten UEL fixtures witnessed a goalless first half.

Athens Insights.

Both AEK Athens and Zorya Luhansk occupy the bottom two spots of UEFA Europa League (UEL) Group G, and a defeat for either here would be disastrous for their respective hopes of continuing their European adventure into spring. The 12-time Greek champions hammered their Ukrainian visitors 4-1 in the reverse fixture though – a result that forms part of a three-game winning run in which both teams scored – so confidence should be high. They are therefore well positioned to improve upon a poor home record in UEL group stage home fixtures (W2, D5, L6), and claim their first such win since 2010/11. Regardless of the result, six straight UEL home fixtures that featured both teams scoring promises a good game here, especially as five saw the opener netted by the 30th minute.

Luhansk Insights.

Zero points Zorya must avoid defeat – and still hope results go their way elsewhere – in order to keep their slim progression dreams alive. However, they’ve found the going tough so far, losing all three group stage matches after conceding two goals before HT in each, and registering a clean sheet in just one of the six halves of football they’ve played. In fact, across all competitions they’ve won just one of their previous eight matches, and have netted the opener in just one of the last six. To compound matters further, Zorya have scored just once away in the UEL group stage across seven previous games, six of which saw them lose ‘to nil’.