Samsunspor vs Panathinaikos Prediction: Turks can turn tie on its head

Samsunspor host Panathinaikos on Thursday (18:00 BST) in the second leg of their Uefa Europa League play-off tie. Panathinaikos won 2-1 at home in Athens last week, so all the Greeks need to do is avoid defeat at the Samsun 19 Mayis Stadyumu to book their place in the league phase of the competition.

Below are my Samsunspor vs Panathinaikos predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds, ahead of this second leg in Samsun, Turkey.

Team News

Samsunspor's summer signings included Sheffield Wednesday winger Anthony Musaba, but the Dutchman is yet to make his competitive debut for the club due to an unspecified injury. He looks set to miss out again on Thursday, but Portuguese midfielder Afonso Sousa and Croatian defender Toni Borevkovic could line up in their new side's colours for the first time.

Football Odds

Arbnor Muja, Yunus Emre Cift, Soner Gonul and Soner Aydogdu all came off the bench in the second half last week and will all be seeking more minutes on Thursday.

Panathinaikos made a notable loan addition last weekend, bringing in Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches for the season, but with the 28-year-old not having featured since playing for Benfica in the Fifa Club World Cup on June 24, it appears unlikely that he will have any part in proceedings on Thursday.

Today's Football Fixtures

Davide Calabria made his debut for the club as a second-half substitute in the first leg, and the former AC Milan man will be hoping to make his first start in Turkey.

Fotis Ioannidis, who came on alongside Calabria in the 59th minute last week, continues to be linked with a move away, with reigning Portuguese league champions Sporting CP the latest club credited with an interest in the Greek forward, so it remains to be seen whether the 25-year-old is involved in Samsun.

Samsunspor vs Panathinaikos Odds

Samsunspor are 13/8, or a 38.1% chance, to triumph in regulation time on Thursday, with Panathinaikos 6/4 (40%) to do the double over their Turkish counterparts. The draw, meanwhile, can be backed at 23/10.

Both teams to score is priced at 4/5, and over 2.5 total goals at 1/1.

Ioannidis (9/5) heads the anytime goalscorer market, followed by teammate Karol Swiderski (2/1), with Marius Mouandilmadji (12/5) first up for the hosts.

Match Result - Samsunspor @ 13/8

Samsunspor limited their hosts to seven shots and just one on target in the first half of their match last week, heading into half-time on level terms. Then, six minutes after the restart, Logi Tomasson put the visitors ahead, and for 15 minutes, until Georgios Kyriakopoulos equalised, a famous victory looked to be on the cards.

Of course, Erik Palmer-Brown then scored what turned out to be the winner in the 74th minute, but the teams ended the game with equal possession, and Samsunspor will line up in their home leg on Thursday full of belief that they can at least take the tie to extra time.

Panathinaikos were poor travellers in last season's Uefa Conference League, losing 2-1 at Lens in the first leg of their play-off tie before claiming four points from three league phase matches. They went to Bosnia and drew 1-1 with Borac Banja Luka, lost 2-0 to Djurgarden in Sweden, and only managed to beat The New Saints 2-0 in Wales. In the knockout phase play-offs, they went down 2-1 to Vikingur Reykjavik in Iceland and suffered a 3-1 defeat at Italian side Fiorentina in the last 16.

Samsunspor, meanwhile, beat Genclerbirligi 2-1 on August 9 to record a fourth straight home win, keeping two clean sheets in that run, and while the level of their opponents in that stretch hasn't been high, they held Jose Mourinho's Fenerbahce to a 2-2 draw there last October.

Panathinaikos have already suffered a defeat on their European travels this season, losing 2-0 to Rangers at Ibrox in the first leg of their Uefa Champions League second qualifying round tie on July 22, a result made to look worse by the Glasgow club only winning two of their subsequent nine matches - one of those against a third-division Scottish side in the League Cup.

At 13/8, it's worth taking a punt on the hosts to claim a famous victory, in my opinion.

Corner Over/Under - Over 8.5 @ 8/11

Over 8.5 corners has been a winning selection in four of Panathinaikos' five European ties so far this term, with the line only failing to land in their goalless draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in Krakow, Poland, on August 14.

There were nine taken in their first leg with Rangers, 14 in the second leg, and 11 in their first encounter with Shakhtar in Greece, before 12 were recorded at home to Samsunspor last week (eight for, four against).

With the hosts chasing the tie, expect the corners to mount up on Thursday, and if Samsunspor level the scores, the visitors may be the ones doing all the probing.

Either way, the conditions are there for plenty of corners here, at least nine, anyway.

Offers

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