Viktoria Plzen vs Panathinaikos Prediction: Nervy contest anticipated in Czechia

Viktoria Plzen and Panathinaikos clash for the third time this season when they do battle in the second leg of their Europa League knockout phase play-off tie at the Doosan Arena on Thursday (17:45 GMT, TNT Sports 5).

The pair, who drew 0-0 in the league phase of the competition, shared the spoils for the second time in last week's 2-2 draw at the Olympic Stadium in Athens to leave things finely poised. Read on for my Viktoria Plzen vs Panathinaikos predictions, featuring the latest match odds and team news.

Team News

Plzen left-back Merchas Doski is suspended following his yellow card in the first leg while centre-back Jan Paulska has not featured since November because of injury and remains unavailable.

Cyriel Dessers, who joined Panathinaikos in September after a spell with Rangers, has been ruled out of this contest due to injury.

Facundo Pellistri remains on the sidelines, where he has been since the end of last month, while Moussa Sissoko is out with a knock.

Football Odds

Today's Football Fixtures

Viktoria Plzen vs Panathinaikos Odds

Viktoria Plzen are the 21/20 favourites to pick up the win on home soil, with the draw priced at 9/4 and Panathinaikos the 13/5 outsiders.

A repeat of the 2-2 draw in the first leg is available at 14/1.

Half-Time Result - Draw @ 11/10

There has been nothing to separate these two teams in this season's Conference League, with a 0-0 stalemate in Athens in the league phase followed by last week's 2-2 draw in the same stadium.

The scores have been level at half-time in both of those contests and given the chance to advance to the last-16 stage of the competition is on offer on Thursday, another tight affair is expected.

Plzen have been level after 45 minutes in their last two fixtures in all competitions, while it was honours even at the break in two of their last three home assignments in Europe.

As for Panathinaikos, they have been level at half-time in seven of their last 10 matches and they are unlikely to be going gung-ho from the off in this clash.

Under 2.5 goals @ 4/6

With neither side wanting to make a mistake, expect the pair to favour defence over attack with scoring chances few and far between.

These two have already played out a 0-0 stalemate in the league phase, and while they did share four goals last week, a less entertaining contest is anticipated.

Under 2.5 goals has been a winning bet in three of Plzen's last four home matches and in their last three European outings at the Doosan Arena.

It's also worth noting that Plzen were the second-lowest scorers of the top-24 teams in the league phase, netting just eight times to sit ahead of only Crvena Zvezda (7).

For Pana, there have been less than three strikes in five of their last six games and in five-successive away matches.

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