Olympiakos vs Dynamo Kiev predictions for Thursday’s match in the Europa League. Both of these teams progressed through tricky groups to reach the knockout stage of the Europa League and Olympiakos have the home advantage in Thursday’s 1st leg. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.

We’re hoping to see an open, end to end, and exciting game of football between two teams that have tended to go into recent games with an all or nothing attitude. Olympiakos did well to qualify in second place in their group, coming ahead of the once might AC Milan, while Dynamo Kiev topped a group that also includes Rennes and Astana. Thursday’s hosts certainly had a tougher pathway to the knockout stages were only narrowly beaten to the number one spot by La Liga side Betis.

Olympiakos were enjoying a winning run until their 3-3 draw in the Greek Cup with Lamia was soon followed by a 3-1 defeat in the Super League by PAOK. That defeat means PAOK now sit nine points clear of Olympiakos in Greece’s top flight, while Dynamo Kiev also sit second in their respective domestic league, but are only seven points behind Shakhtar Donetsk. Kiev’s last competitive outing arrived at the end of the second week of December, when the Ukrainian’s lost their final group game in the Europa League at home to Jablonec.

The last six competitive matches both teams have been involved in suggests we should be in for a few goals in Thursday’s 1st leg. Olympiakos have seen five of their last six games produce over 2.5 goals, including 4-0 wins over Larissa and Panionios, while three of Dynamo Kiev’s last six games have also seen at least three goals scored. Olympiakos haven’t failed to score in any of their last six matches and scored eleven goals in their six group games in the Europa League. Dynamo Kiev only failed to score in one of their last six matches and that was in their final group game when they had already booked their place in the next round. Kiev scored ten goals and conceded seven during their six group games and four of those games saw both teams score.

Both teams have won four of their last six matches and should head into Thursday’s game with high levels of confidence, and with the two sides both conceding goals on a regular basis the first one scored on Thursday isn’t likely to have a major effect on the match as we’re expecting over 2.5 to be scored. Christodoulopoulos and Fortounis have both scored five goals each in qualifying and the group stage of the Europa League, while Harmash, Tsygankov, and Verbič all scored two goals each for Kiev in the group stage. We’re confident that over 2.5 goals will be scored on Thursday and have backed the game to ended in a 2-2 draw.

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