The Agia Sophia Stadium plays host to a top-of-the-table clash in Europa League Group E on Thursday, as AEK Athens pit their wits against Marseille.

The French outfit overtook their rivals at the top of the section with a 3-1 win at the Orange Velodrome in October, but only one point separates the two last-16 hopefuls.

Match preview

Determined to regain top spot in the section, AEK Athens' enthralling 3-2 win over Brighton & Hove Albion and come-from-behind 1-1 draw with Ajax saw the Greek giants lead the way in Group E after two games, only to fall to Les Olympiens' supremacy.

Orbelin Pineda did manage to cancel out a first-half Vitinha strike at the Orange Velodrome, but just four minutes after AEK's leveller, Cican Stankovic's professional foul saw the goalkeeper dismissed from the field; Amine Harit dispatched the resulting penalty before Jordan Veretout put the cherry on top.

The 10 men of AEK still have their knockout fate in their own hands, though, as they are sitting clear of Brighton on account of their head-to-head points total - despite possessing an inferior goal difference - and they will be looking down on Marseille once again should they complete their revenge mission this week.

While producing a mixed bag of results in Europe, AEK Athens went into the weekend's Greek Super League affair with Kifisia on the hunt for a fourth successive win and clean sheet in the top flight, having seen off Panaitolikos, Asteras Tripolis and PAOK in such circumstances last month.

However, despite taking the lead via a Morgan Schneiderlin own goal, Matias Almeyda's men were forced to settle for a point in a 1-1 draw and are now at risk of going 14 home games without a win in the Europa League proper, having drawn five and lost eight of their last 13 second-tier affairs on Athenian soil.

With eight goals in three Europa League matches so far in 2023-24 - sharing six in total with Ajax before playing out an exciting 2-2 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion - Marseille are the resident entertainers in Group E and are firmly in control of their knockout destiny thanks to their unbeaten start.

However, Marseille have found the going a bit tougher domestically in recent weeks, failing to score in both of their last Ligue 1 showdowns with Nice and Lille, losing 1-0 to the former before playing out an uneventful draw with Les Dogues over the weekend.

Something that was the furthest thing from uneventful was the despicable scenes outside the Orange Velodrome before their proposed Olympique derby with Lyon on October 29, though, as Gones head coach Fabio Grosso was busted wide open while missiles were being hurled as the visitors' coach, forcing the authorities to postpone the fixture.

Marseille will not be hit with any sanctions until the investigation concludes on November 22, as newly-appointed head coach Gennaro Gattuso tries to block out the noise and find a solution to his side's worrying run on the road, which has seen Les Olympiens go winless in 10 successive away games.

Not since April have the former Champions League winners come up trumps on rival territory, losing each of their last three Ligue 1 games away from their Velodrome headquarters, albeit to esteemed opposition in Nice, Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.

Team News

AEK Athens number one Stankovic will watch this game from the naughty step as he serves a one-game ban for his red card on matchday three, allowing Georgios Athanasiadis to act as Almeyda's last line of defence this week.

Djibril Sidibe and Nordin Amrabat are also at risk of incurring a Europa League ban if they are cautioned on Thursday, but the duo should start in any case, while left-back Ehsan Hajsafi is yet to recover from the muscle injury he picked up in the first half of last month's loss to Ajax.

Captain and centre-forward Sergio Araujo is keeping Hajsafi company in the medical bay, leaving Steven Zuber and Ezequiel Ponce to shoulder the attacking burden for the time being.

In contrast, Marseille boss Gattuso does not have any players on the banned list for matchday four, although Jonathan Clauss and Leonardo Balerdi are both walking a tightrope on two yellow cards apiece and must careful lest they risk missing a potentially pivotal clash with Ajax.

Balerdi will coincidentally return from a Ligue 1 ban for the Group E encounter, and Azzedine Ounahi (thigh) is the visitors' only significant injury concern at this moment in time.

After failing to build on his one Ligue 1 goal so far this term, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was staunchly defended by Gattuso after the Lille stalemate, but the ex-Arsenal striker is out of the squad for this one alongside Valentin Rongier.

AEK Athens possible starting lineup:
Athanasiadis; Sidibe, Vida, Mitoglou, Mohammadi; Amrabat, Galanopoulos, Pineda; Mantalos; Zuber, Ponce

Marseille possible starting lineup:
Blanco; Clauss, Mbemba, Balerdi, Lodi; Kondogbia, Veretout, Harit; Sarr, Vitinha, Ndiaye

We say: AEK Athens 0-1 Marseille

High-scoring, end-to-end encounters have been commonplace in Europa League Group E so far, but we can envisage a more low-key affair in Athens, particularly given Marseille's troubles in the final third domestically.

Almeyda's side do not tend to concede many goals either, but with several attacking stars primed to make an impact off the bench, we expect Gattuso's men to make the long journey worthwhile.


For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Previews by email