Apollon Limassol will be looking to pick up their first Europa Conference Laague victory this season at the fourth time of asking when they play host to AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.
On the other hand, their visitors make the trip to Tsirion Stadium seeeking to preserve their fine group-stage run of results and claim a fourth straight continental win.
Apollon Limassol put an end to a four-game winless run with a narrow 1-0 victory over Anorthosis at the Antonis Papadopoulos Satdium on Monday.
The Blue-whites broke the deadlock in the 69th minute courtesy of Ioannis Pittas and that proved enough to get the job done in a fairly even contest.
As a result, David Catala’s side have moved up to second place in the Cyprus first division table, level on points with league leaders Paphos.
Now in the last attempt to preserve their European ambitions, Apollon Limassol now go in search of a much-needed three points in front of their fans where they have only lost one of seven games this season.
Meanwhile, AZ Alkmaar made it five successive victories across all competitions through a 2-1 win over FC Utrecht at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday.
The Cheeseheads took the lead through Myron van Brederode just past the half-hour mark before Yukinari Sugawara made it two midway through the second half after which Moussa Sylla found a late consolation goal.
Pascal Jansen’s side remain top of the Eredivisie table after the first nine games which is in keeping with their Europa Conference League form as they also sit top of Group E on nine points from a possible nine.
Currently on a run of seven consecutive victories on their travels, AZ Almaar have been in impressive form away from home since suffering a 1-0 defeat to Dundee United on August 4.
Apollon Limassol vs AZ Alkmaar head to head
These two teams have previously met on just one occasion in the Europa Conference League on October 6, where AZ Alkmaar claimed a 3-2 home victory.
Apollon Limassol latest home form
Apollon Limassol have recently been on a relatively good run of form at home, having lost just one of their seven most recent matches. They drew 1-1 with Pafos in their last home game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored six goals and also conceded six.
Apollon 1-1 Olympiakos 18/08/22
Apollon 1-0 Enosis 30/08/22
Apollon 2-1 Omonia Nicosia 11/09/22
Apollon 1-3 Dnipro-1 15/09/22
Apollon 1-1 Pafos 01/10/22
Apollon Limassol latest away form
Apollon Limassol have recently been on a relatively good run of form on the road, having lost just one of their five most recent matches. They defeated Anorthosis 1-0 in their last away game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored five goals and conceded four.
Doxa 0-1 Apollon 03/09/22
Vaduz 0-0 Apollon 08/09/22
Nea Salamis 1-1 Apollon 18/09/22
AZ 3-2 Apollon 06/10/22
Anorthosis 0-1 Apollon 10/10/22
AZ Alkmaar latest home form
AZ Alkmaar have recently been on a good run of form at home, having been unbeaten in their 12 most recent matches. They defeated Apollon Limassol 3-2 in their last home game in the Europa Conference League. In their last five matches, they have scored 11 goals and conceded six.
AZ 1-1 NEC 01/09/22
AZ 1-1 Twente 11/09/22
AZ 4-1 Vaduz 15/09/22
AZ 2-1 Ajax 18/09/22
AZ 3-2 Apollon 06/10/22
AZ Alkmaar latest away form
AZ Alkmaar have recently been on a good run of form on the road, having been unbeaten in their seven most recent matches. They managed to defeat Utrecht 2-1 in their last away game in the league. In their last five matches, they have scored 11 goals and conceded just two.
Cambuur 0-1 AZ 28/08/22
Emmem 0-3 AZ 04/09/22
Dnipro-1 0-1 AZ 08/09/22
Groningen 1-4 AZ 01/10/22
Utrecht 1-2 AZ 09/10/22
Apollon Limassol news
Bagaliy Dabo was fit enough to be named on the bench for Apollon Limassol last time out but it remains to be seen whether he will play any part in this game.
Ioannis Pittas has been directly involved in two of his side’s three Europa Conference League goals so far this season.
AZ Alkmaar news
Vangelis Pavlidis is unavailable for AZ Alkmaar on Thursday due to a leg injury which has seen him fail to feature since the final week of August.
The visitors are also set to be without Norway international Hakon Evjen who is set to miss a sixth game in a row with an ankle problem.
Prediction and Odds
AZ Alkmaar have been in strong form this season and head into the contest as huge favourites to come out on top on Thursday.
While Apollon Limassol recently returned to winning ways, the visitors have too much quality for their hosts and we can see them come away with all three points.
Odds: 1 2.35 X 2.05 2 2.18
Probable outcomes
Apollon Limassol 0-1 AZ
Apollon Limassol 0-2 AZ
Apollon Limassol 1-2 AZ
Apollon Limassol 1-3 AZ
Apollon Limassol 2-3 AZ