Fenerbahce vs Olympiakos Prediction: Expect more entertainment in Istanbul

Fenerbahce looked down and out after going three goals behind before the hour-mark of their Europa Conference League quarter-final first leg game at Olympiakos last week. However, Dusan Tadic and Irfan Can Kahveci both struck in the last half hour for the Turkish giants to make the score 3-2 heading into Thursday's second leg in Istanbul.

Below you can find our Fenerbahce vs Olympiakos prediction for this match at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, which will be shown live in the UK on TNT Sports 6 (KO, 20:00).

It was Konstantinos Fortounis who struck the opener in the eighth minute when these sides met last week, with Stefan Jovetic making it two for the Red and Whites in the 32nd. Chiquinho grabbed a third for the hosts on 57 minutes before Tadic and Kahveci replied for the visitors.

Olympiakos have had a full week to recover from their exertions in the first leg whereas Fenerbahce were thrust into league action on Sunday, beating Karagumruk 2-1 courtesy of second-half strikes from Edin Dzeko and Michy Batshuayi.

Team News

Jayden Oosterwolde was taken off just before half-time in the first leg due to injury and will miss the return leg in Istanbul. Aston-Villa linked full-back Kerdi Kadioglu replaced the Dutchman in Piraeus and looks likely to line up at left-back from the start this week.

Mert Hakan Yandas and Luan Peres are injured.

Like Fred, Olympiakos defender Panagiotis Retsos will be serving a one-match suspension on Thursday for too many yellow cards in European competition this season.

Bandiougou Fadiga and Doron Leidner remain injured for the visitors.

Match Odds

Fenerbahce are favourites to win this match inside 90 minutes, with odds of 8/13 giving them an implied win probability of 61.9%. Olympiakos, meanwhile, can be backed at 18/5, giving them a 21.7% chance of securing victory inside 90 minutes on Thursday.

The draw, which would be enough for the Greek giants to book their place in the Europa Conference League semi-finals without the requirement of extra time, is available at 7/2.

There were plenty of goals in the first leg last week - it's 4/7 for both teams to score (90 mins) again and 10/3 for a repeat of over 4.5 goals.

Over 3.5 goals @ 11/8

Games involving either of those clubs are rarely dull, as last week's five-goal thriller showed. That was actually the last of a three-match run where there had been at least five goals involving Fenerbahce, following wins over Trabzonspor (3-2) and Adana Demirspor (4-2) as well.

Olympiakos, meanwhile, have seen six of their last seven games finish with over 3.5 goals, and their last three in Europe have each produced at least five goals.

It's now six games without a clean sheet for Fenerbahce, while Olympiakos have only kept one in their last seven.

The hosts have to score once at a minimum on Thursday to give themselves a chance of at least forcing extra time, but they will fancy themselves to find the net multiple times on their own turf. The Yellow Canaries have scored at least twice in a home game on 21 occasions this season and have lost just twice at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium.

Olympiakos could get through with a goalless draw on Thursday, but that seems an unlikely eventuality in a match involving both of these teams.

I expect Fenerbahce to come out all guns blazing in the second leg and that could help fire them into an early lead.

That wouldn't disturb Olympiakos too much, however, with their 4-1 win - extended to 6-1 in extra time - against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Backa Topola last month still fresh in the memory.

Over 9.5 corners @ 11/10

There were a whopping 12 corners - six apiece - in the first leg last week, so it's slightly surprising to see the odds of at least 10 corners this Thursday at 11/10.

With Fenerbahce at home and chasing the tie, I would expect them to force a number of corners as they seek to make the tie level and subsequently go ahead to push themselves into the semi-finals.

Their last home game in the competition, a 1-0 defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise in the second leg of their round of 16 tie, saw 16 corners awarded - four in their favour and 12 against them.

Check out the rest of our Football Betting Tips here.