Panathinaikos vs Ajax Prediction: Visitors to shade first leg

Panathinaikos and Ajax will meet in Athens for the first leg of their Europa League third-round qualifier on Thursday night (KO, 19:00) at the Athens Olympic Stadium.

A play-off place against either Bodo/Glimt or Jagiellonia Bialystok is at stake, with both sides looking to advance to the next qualifying round. Read on for my Panathinaikos vs Ajax prediction, as well as the latest team news and match odds.

Football Odds

Team News

Summer signings Sverrir Ingi Ingason, Nemanja Maksimovic and Tete were all involved in the win over Botev Plovdiv last time out for Panathinaikos, while fellow new arrival George Baldock could make his debut for the Greek giants on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Ajax could be without Geronimo Rulli, who is still on leave after competing at the Olympics with Argentina, so Diant Ramaj will battle it out with 40-year-old Remko Pasveer to start between the sticks for the Dutch side.

Owen Wijndal and Gaston Avila will miss the first leg through injury, but Netherlands internationals Brian Brobbey and Steven Bergwijn may travel after returning to training last week.

Chuba Akpom and Jordan Henderson are likely to retain their key roles in attack and midfield.

Panathinaikos vs Ajax Odds

The hosts are 6/5 to take a lead into next week's return leg, while the draw is 23/10 and Ajax are 15/8 to claim victory themselves.

Under 2.5 goals can be backed at 11/10, and Fotis Ioannidis is the favourite to break the deadlock at anytime at 7/5.

Match Result - Ajax @ 15/8

After a nightmare fifth-placed finish in the 2023/24 campaign, Ajax are hoping to bounce back his term.

Francesco Farioli arrived from Nice in the off-season to oversee the rebuild, and their return to European action saw them beat Vojvodina 4-1 on aggregate in the second round of qualifying.

Set to begin their new league campaign against Heerenveen this weekend, Ajax have now put together six-straight victories, which includes pre-season triumphs against the likes of Rangers and Olympiacos.

Panathinaikos also won both of their games in the last round, seeing off Botev Plovdiv, after finishing fourth in last season's Greek Super League to book their place in this season's Europa League.

Heading into this heavyweight qualifying tie, there are some concerns for the hosts going off last season's results, which saw them lose home and away to Braga in the final round of Champions League qualifying. Diego Alonso's side were then beaten in four of their six Europa League games that followed, exiting bottom of their group.

I fancy Ajax to shade the first leg and take an advantage back to Amsterdam.

Under 2.5 goals @ 11/10

With this being a first leg, I'm expecting a closely-fought encounter between the two sides.

Ajax are arguably the stronger team on paper, but they'll be missing a few key players due to numerous factors. Matches in Greece tend to have hostile atmospheres too, which could contribute to a low-scoring affair.

I'm taking under 2.5 goals in this one.

Offers

Acca Flex: Place a pre-match 5+ leg Football accumulator and get a CASH bonus up to 50% if all of your selections win or your money back as CASH if one leg lets you down.

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