Thursday sees Wolverhampton Wanderers hosting Greek side Olympiacos in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 16 tie. What a long strange trip it’s been for the 2019-20 Wolves, who began this season way back on July 25, 2019 which feels like another era entirely now.
They beat Crusaders 2-0 in the first leg of a qualifying tie, which they eventually won, to get into the Europa League group stages. Now they’ll need to win on Thursday, and the entire Europa League tournament in general in order to have any form of European football next season.
If you look at the odds at most sports betting sites, you’ll see the odds are greatly in favor of the Midlands club. Wolves are typically backed at (-134) while Olympiacos are priced, usually around (+260). A bet that Wolves will win the entire UEL tournament can be had for more or less (+800)
Wolverhampton’s seventh-placed Premier League finish, plus Arsenal’s FA Cup title means they are now on the outside looking in when it comes to next year’s UEL.
It’s also looking like we might have an all England UEL semifinal, as Manchester United are in prime position to advance tomorrow night, and they, as well as Wolves, have favorable draws towards making that happen.
Focusing on the clash tomorrow night, Nuno Espirito Santo has a full team to select from. Wolves have no suspensions nor injuries to deal with right now. As for the other side, they are on the opposite side of the spectrum. They’ll be without winger El Arbi Hillel Soudani and defender Leonardo Koutris, who both have cruciate ligament ruptures.
Defender Ruben Semedo is also not available after he was dismissed in the first leg way back on March 11. The big blow though is goalkeeper Jose Sa. One of the team’s best, if not the best, player on the side, he will miss out due to an injury sustained on the training ground.
That means a start for back-up Bobby Allain. Sa, 27, is the understudy for the man in the opposing goal, Rui Patricio, on the Portugese national team.
Olympiacos at Wolves Europa League Round of 16 Leg 2/2 Starting XI Predictions
Wolves: Patricio; Boly, Coady, Saiss; Doherty, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny; Traore, Jimenez, Jota.
Olympiacos: Allain; Gaspar, Ba, Cisse, Tsimikas; Guilherme, Camara; Randjelovic, Fortounis, Valbuena; El Arabi.
Olympiacos at Wolves Europa League Round of 16 Leg 2/2 FYIs
Kickoff: Thurs Aug 6, 8pm, Molineux, Wolverhampton, UK
TV: BT Sport (UK)
First Leg: 1-1 draw
Prediction: Wolves 2, Olympiacos 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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