AEK Athens vs Shamrock Rovers Prediction: Greeks to cruise past Rovers

Conference League action from Greece on Thursday evening sees Irish champions Shamrock Rovers visiting the OPAP Arena to face AEK Athens (17:45 kick off, TNT Sports 4). The Greeks have been strong at home this season and they hit Aberdeen for six in their opening home challenge in this competition, while Rovers have lost five of their last six games in all competitions despite picking up their 22nd Irish Premier Division title at the weekend.

Below you can find my AEK Athens vs Shamrock Rovers predictions along with the latest team news and match odds for this Conference League tie.

Team News

AEK Athens were 1-0 winners against Panetolikos in the Greek Super League at the weekend and only long-term absentee Alex Callens was missing, with no further injuries reported since.

Boss Marko Nikolic may shuffle his pack with Swiss attacker Dereck Kutesa likely to earn a start having scored in both Conference League games.

Stephen Bradley has doubts over Graham Burke after he picked up a knock in the weekend loss to Sligo Rovers, while Aaron Green, Josh Honohan and Daniel Mandroiu all missed that season-ending contest in the Irish Premier Division.

Match Odds

AEK Athens are overwhelming favourites at 1/7 to win this contest, with Shamrock Rovers as big as 18/1 and the draw priced at 7/1.

The home side are 8/13 to score a goal in each half, while both teams to score is priced at 11/8, a bet that has landed in each of Rovers' last four games in this competition proper, including at Chelsea last season.

AEK Athens vs Shamrock Rovers Stats

• AEK Athens have won eight of their nine home games this season
• The Greeks have scored four goals before the 30-minute mark in two Conference League games so far
• Shamrock Rovers have lost five of their last six games in all competitions

Bet Builder: AEK Athens -1, Total Goals Over 2.5 & AEK Athens Total Corners Under 7.5 @ 13/8

AEK scored six without reply as they dismissed Aberdeen and now they face the visiting Irish champions, who were beaten 4-1 by Slavia Prague in their opener last month.

The hosts are major favourites and it will be a shock if they don't win with something to spare. They've scored four times inside 30 minutes in their two games in this competition, while Rovers have trailed 0-2 at half-time in both games.

The Hoops do have a habit of scoring on the road, including each of their league phase games last season at the likes of Rapid Vienna and Chelsea, so over 2.5 goals looks solid.

Despite their dominance against the Dons, which included 27 shots at goal, AEK took just five corners in that game, while it was four in their opening loss to Celje.

Rovers, meanwhile, restricted the Slovenians to three corners in Dublin last time, so under 7.5 corners for the home side completes this bet builder.

Football Odds

Razvan Marin anytime goalscorer @ 15/8

Signed from Cagliari in the summer, Razvan Marin has three goals for AEK this season and has been deployed as penalty-taker.

The Romanian was handed a role just behind the main striker in last month's romp against Aberdeen and got his name on the scoresheet from open play.

He could be found in a similar role now and can add to his goal tally since arriving in Greece from Italian football.