Panathinaikos play host to Sturm Graz on Thursday evening looking for the win that would edge the Greek giants closer to a guaranteed top-24 spot in the League Phase of the Europa League.
At a time when the home side sit in 16th place in the standings, Sturm Graz are 25th but just two points adrift of their upcoming opponents.
Match preview
Having pulled off the coup of appointing Rafael Benitez as their new head coach, there is an air of positivity at Panathinaikos right now.
The legendary Spaniard has already delivered five wins from six games, his solitary defeat coming by a 1-0 scoreline at the hands of Volos on November 1.
Since then, victories have been posted over Malmo, PAOK and Panserraikos with six goals being scored and two clean sheets being kept.
As a result, Panathinaikos are finally on an upward trajectory in the Greek Super League, albeit still down in sixth position and 10 points adrift of leaders Olympiakos with a game in hand.
With regards to this competition, six points have come from four games, but three of their remaining four fixtures will be played om home territory versus Sturm Graz, Viktoria Plzen and Roma.
Benitez will, therefore, be confident of achieving a top-24 spot as a bare minimum, but losing on Thursday would hand the advantage to Sturm Graz who remain on their coattails.
Their four points have come from home fixtures against Rangers and Nottingham Forest, beating the Scottish side by a 2-1 scoreline before holding Premier League club Forest to a goalless draw.
Away from Austria, it has been a different story with defeats coming at FC Midtjylland (2-0) and Celtic (2-1), heaping the pressure on Jurgen Saumel when Sturm Graz have generally been poor in all competitions.
They have failed to win a game across normal time in seven matches, their last victory coming by a 4-3 scoreline at BM Linz on October 19.
Fifteen goals have been conceded in eight games, their only clean sheet coming versus Forest who missed a penalty in that fixture.
Panathinaikos Europa League form:
W L L W
Panathinaikos form (all competitions):
W W L W W W
Sturm Graz Europa League form:
L W L D
Sturm Graz form (all competitions):
L D L D D L
Team News
Panathinaikos will be forced into a change in midfield with Manolis Siopis serving a one-match ban for three yellow cards.
With Alban Lafont and Pedro Chirivella also picking up injuries at the weekend, there is the prospect of at least three alterations in total.
Goalkeeper Konstantinos Kotsaris, as well as central midfield duo Adam Gnezda Cerin and Tonny Vilhena, could all be recalled.
Meanwhile, Sturm Graz welcome back Tochi Chukwuani who served a ban for the Forest game.
On the back of the 3-1 reverse to LASK Linz, Axel Kayombo and Seedy Jatta could be restored to the final third.
Panathinaikos possible starting lineup:
Kotsaris; Jedvaj, Palmer-Brown, Touba, Mladenovic; Cerin, Vilhena; Tete, Bakasetas, Zaroury; Pantovic
Sturm Graz possible starting lineup:
Christensen; Malic, Oermann, Lavalee, Karic; Horvat, Gorenc Stankovic, Chukwuani; Kiteishvili; Jatta, Grgic
We say: Panathinaikos 2-1 Sturm Graz
Although Sturm Graz will take confidence from having held Nottingham Forest, we cannot ignore the run of results that Panathinaikos have put together in all competitions. With that in mind, Benitez’s side could make full use of their home advantage to edge this contest by the odd goal in three.
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