2020-21 UEFA Europa League Group Stage: AEK Athens vs Leicester

Leicester City look to continue a strong start to their Europa League adventures as they visit AEK Athens at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Group G.

Victory will see the Foxes remain top but a win for AEK coupled with the same result for Zorya Luhansk against Braga could see the table evolve depending on results come full-time.

 

Team News

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AEK Athens will be without Damian Szymanski, Levi Garcia and Andres Simoes for this match as the trio miss out with unspecified injuries.

Leicester have no fresh injury concerns to report as Kelechi Iheanacho and James Justin look for returns to the starting lineup after finding themselves benched for Sunday’s Premier League win at Arsenal.

Ricardo Pereira (knee), Caglar Soyuncu (muscle), Daniel Amartey (hamstring) and Wilfred Ndidi (adductor) remain absent.

 

Stat Attack

• This is AEK Athens first-ever meeting against Leicester in all competitions.
• AEK Athens have won just one of their last six meetings against English opposition in all competitions (W1, L5).
• Leicester are facing Greek opposition for the first time in all competitions but have avoided defeat in all first-time meetings against clubs of a new country that they were facing for the very first time (W4, D2).

 

Prediction

Having produced a shambolic defensive performance at Braga last week, AEK Athens really need to step up and show considerable improvement because Leicester have shown how unpredictable they can be, after producing two contrasting performances in their last two matches which resulted in victories with clean sheets.

Tactics therefore will be crucial for AEK because if Leicester get on the front foot like they did against Zorya Luhansk and can produce another clinical display then it is hard to see the Foxes losing, although AEK looked decent when they had opportunities on goal against Braga yet wasted those chances so might be slightly tighter than we expected.

Either way, my gut says that Leicester will have too much for AEK Athens given the Greek team’s poor record against English opposition.

Prediction: AEK Athens 0-2 Leicester City

Result: AEK Athens 1-2 Leicester City