H2H: Granada vs PAOK Thessaloniki – Prediction (Europa League

H2H: Granada v PAOK – Comparison.

Darwin Machís has found the back of the net in all three of his UEFA starts this season including qualifiers, with Granada’s first goal twice. With his equaliser against Omonia, Thomas Murg became the second player to record PAOK’s first goal of a match twice in all 2020/21 fixtures. Four of Granada’s last five matches in all competitions have produced at least five total cards, as have five of PAOK’s last six.

Granada Insights.

Granada’s outstanding beginning to the 2020/21 season continued at the weekend, with the Spanish club now having won eight of their ten matches in all competitions (D1, L1). That includes a perfect record in their maiden UEFA Europa League (UEL) campaign, with their group stage defeat of PSV Eindhoven one of four competitive wins this campaign to have been achieved via a one-goal margin. Interestingly, the victory over PSV last round was also the second of Granada’s ten competitive 2020/21 matches in which they failed to score first. Despite such sharp starts, Granada have not enjoyed a HT/FT double in any of their last three UEL wins, with all but one of their last seven UEL goals recorded in the second half.

PAOK Sofia Insights.

PAOK will have been somewhat relieved to have made it two games unbeaten in the UEL after their 1-1 draw in their group stage opener, after witnessing a run of five straight defeats prior in this competition, including qualification play-offs. They’ve now recorded back-to-back draws in all competitions despite a 1-0 HT deficit. Interestingly, despite those aforementioned UEL woes, PAOK can still boast a reasonable 60% win-draw rate (W1, D2, L2) from their last five UEFA engagements as an outsider, with no team securing a HT/FT double in those five games. The Greek club appear to be dependent on a positive first 45 minutes though, as the nine 0-0 HT results from their last 18 matches in all competitions have been converted into just two victories (D4, L1).