Football Tips: The 3 best bets for Arsenal’s trip to Olympiakos on Thursday

Our tipster Paddy Murphy has studied the stats to bring you his three best bets for Arsenal's clash with Olympiakos on Thursday.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Olympiakos take on Arsenal on Thursday night in the Europa league. The home side have now gone 10 matches at home without tasting defeat but face an Arsenal side who have recently seen off both Benfica and Leicester but then, of course, they go and do an Arsenal and draw with Burnley over the weekend. Arsenal are favourites here but the home side, especially with that record, have little to fear. Let’s have a look for the Three Best Bets for this Europa League Last 16 match.

Over 2.5 Goals

You’d expect a team who are enjoying a run of 10 matches without defeat to have a pretty decent goal-scoring record and you’d be spot on. They’ve scored at least two goals in eight of their last 10 home matches and Over 2.5 goals has landed in eight as well.

Arsenal’s away scoring record is pretty good, they’ve scored at least one in their last 11 on their travels in all competitions. That home win over Benfica in the last round of the competition looked like it might have been a turning point for the Gunners.

Thursday 8pm: Olympiakos v Arsenal
BT Sport 2

The win away to Leicester where they were very much the underdogs going into it seemed to build on that and then they go and draw away to Burnley. But, we have to remember that Burnley is, of course, the place where football dreams go to die.

Regardless, Arsenal are the better side on paper here and will be gunning (sorry) for revenge after being put out of the Europa League last season by the Greek side. The home side though don’t really have it in them to sit back and the only way they know how to play is to go at teams. Both Teams to Score is another option for two teams in decent scoring form but we’ve decided on Over 2.5 Goals here thanks to their respective goal-scoring records over recent weeks.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Score Anytime

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s return of nine goals over 23 Premier League appearances isn’t exactly mighty. It’s a goal every two and a half games and while it’s not bad he’s actually scored in just six games. His Europa League form though is better where he’s got three to his name over his three appearances.

While Arsenal have played eight Europa League matches this season, manager Mikel Arteta has used Aubameyang sparingly, favouring to keep him fresh for Premier League games but it hasn’t worked out as he wanted. Regardless, the Gabon striker has six goals to his name over his last six matches and being in-form we’re going for Aubameyang to Score Anytime here.

Olympiakos to Score Over 0.5 2nd half Goals

So far over their Europa League campaign Olympiakos have scored 60% of their goals in the second half of their matches. Looking at their league form it’s even higher, standing at 69%. Digging even further into the stats we can see that the home side have scored a whopping 24 Second Half goals over their 13 home Super League matches.

It’s fair to say that there’s a pretty massive gulf in quality when comparing the Greek Super League with the Premier League but for a team who are scoring so many goals at home to have such high odds we have to have a nibble on it. Especially when we see that Arsenal have conceded at least one second half goal in five out of their last seven away matches in the Europa League. Olympiakos to Score Over 0.5 2nd half Goals is our final play here.

Tips for Olympiakos v Arsenal

Over 2.5 Goals
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Score Anytime
Olympiakos to Score Over 0.5 2nd half Goals

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

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