Gent vs PAOK Match Analysis and Prediction

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PAOK will travel to the Ghelamco Arena on Thursday to face Gent for the second leg of their Europa Conference League last 16 tie.

The visitors head to the contest with the first-leg advantage as they picked up a narrow 1-0 victory in Greece last week.

Gent will have to overturn a one-goal deficit from the first leg if they will want to continue their journey in the Europa Conference League.

A tight contest in Thessaloniki was decided by a second half goal from Jasmin Kurtic, with the 1-0 loss being Gent’s only defeat in their last eight games in all competitions.

They returned to winning ways at the weekend with Julian De Sart and Darko Lemajic getting their names on the scoresheet to guide their side to a 2-0 away victory over Beerschot.

The Buffalos are unbeaten in their six home Europa Conference League matches this season, including the qualifying round, with four of those matches ending in victory.

The hosts will be booster further by their last two home results, with Gent defeating RFC Seraing 4-0 before securing a narrow 2-1 victory over Zulte Waregem.

While PAOK may hold the slim advantage ahead of the second leg in Belgium, the Greek Super League side will be aware that they have a lot of work ahead of them if they are to reach the quarter final stage.

However, they have already succeeded in a close-fought tie against Midtjylland after winning on penalties in the knockout playoff round to set up their tie with Gent.

They will carry momentum into Thursday’s contest after Chuba Akpom scoring a stoppage-time winner to help his side win 1-0 against PAS Gianna in the Greek Super League at the weekend, and they could be inspired having been unbeaten in their last five competitive matches against Belgian opposition.

Gent vs PAOK head to head

The two teams have previously met on only three occasions in Club Friendly and Europa Conference League competitions, where each side have won in one occasion each and have drawn once. Gent have scored three goals and conceded two. PAOK won 1-0 at home in their last meeting.

PAOK 0-2 Gent 07/07/17

PAOK 1-1 Gent 12/02/18

PAOK 1-0 Gent 10/03/22

Gent latest home form

Despite having been on a relatively poor run of form at home, Gent have recently seemed to be on an upturn in form, having won each of their two most recent matches. In their last five matches, they have won two, drawn one and lost two, scoring seven goals and conceding four.

Gent 1-1 KV Oostende 25/01/22

Gent 0-1 Antwerp 30/01/22

Gent 0-1 Club Brugge 02/02/22

Gent 4-0 RFC Seraing 23/02/22

Gent 2-1 Zulte Waregem 06/03/22

Gent latest away form

Gent recently lost 1-0 to PAOK in the Europa Conference League. However, they have recently been on a good run of form on the road, as they have lost only one of their eight most recent matches. In their last five matches, they have scored seven goals and conceding just one.

AS Eupen 0-1 Gent 12/02/22

Standard Liege 0-1 Gent 27/02/22

Club Brugge 0-3 Gent 02/03/22

PAOK 1-0 Gent 10/03/22

Beerschot 0-2 Gent 13/03/22

PAOK latest home form

PAOK have been on a good run of form at home, and have been unbeaten in their 14 most recent matches. They recently managed to defeat Gent 1-0 in the Europa Conference League. In their last five matches, they have won four and drawn one, scoring six goals and conceding two.

PAOK 1-0 Atromitos 13/02/22

PAOK (P)2-1 Midtjylland 24/02/22

PAOK 1-1 Ionikos 27/02/22

PAOK 1-0 Gent 10/03/22

PAOK 1-0 PAS Giannina 13/03/22

PAOK latest away form

PAOK lost 1-0 to Midtjylland in the Europa Conference League on February 17. However, they have been on a good run of form on the road this season. They recently defeated AEK Athens 2-1 in the Greece Cup. In their last five, they have scored five goals and conceded three.

AEK Athens 1-2 PAOK 09/02/22

Midtjylland 1-0 PAOK 17/02/22

Aris 0-0 PAOK 20/02/22

AEK Athens 1-1 PAOK 02/03/22

Lamia 0-2 PAOK 06/03/22

Gent news

Gent are still without Gianni Brono, who has not featured since January due to injury issues, while Jordan Torunariga is likely to start in the back three on Thursday.

Despite scoring at the weekend, Lemajic will be replaced by Laurent Depoitre who has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season.

PAOK news

PAOK are unable to call upon the services of injured duo Fernando Varela and Nelson Olivera, while Akpom is expected to return to the starting lineup for the second leg.

Andrija Zivkovic and Kurtic will also miss out, with the pair set to serve one-match suspensions for an accumulation of yellow cards.

Prediction and Odds

Just like last week’s encounter, we expect this match to be a tightly contested one, but PAOK have proven to be a tough team to defeat after losing once since their last 22 games in all competitions.

So, already having an advantage, we expect the visitor to progress to the quarter finals.

Odds: 1 2.35 X 2.05 2 2.20