Aris take on the visitors AEK Limassol in the round 28 match of Cypriot First Division – Champoinship Group. The match will be played on Monday, February 20th at Alphamega Stadium (Kolossi).
Aris are currently in third place in the second and most important stage of the Cyprus championship. This position still gives them the opportunity to play in European cups next year, as they currently have 54 points and are 2 points ahead of Paphos, who drew with the leader APOEL 0-0. This means that even if the hosts lose, they will still remain in third place, but if they win, they will move up to the top 2. In general, a victory in this match will open up possibilities for the championship, as they will then be only 4 points behind the leader with 4 matches left, including a head-to-head match. Aris plays very well at home, with only 2 losses, one of which was against their opponent in this match, 1-2. Currently, the Limassol club is on an 8-match unbeaten streak in all tournaments, beating, for example, Apollon 3-1 and Omonia 1-2, who also play in the champions group.
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AEK represented Cyprus on the international arena this season, and it went fairly well, as they gained valuable experience by playing in all possible tournaments. They were eliminated from the Champions League qualifiers in the summer and took third place in the EL group. On Thursday, they were expectedly eliminated by the stronger and more experienced Molde. For some time, they were leading the championship and seemed to be the main contenders for the championship, but they gradually began to lose this advantage and are now at risk of dropping to 3rd place if they lose. This is quite possible, as in their last 7 matches in all tournaments, they failed to win 6 of them, with only one victory coming in a match against Enosis, who is currently playing in the division for teams from the second half of the Cyprus league table.
Despite the fact that historically AEK is a difficult and unpleasant opponent for Aris, I will stay on the side of the hosts, as they are in better form, having not lost in 8 consecutive matches and rarely playing poorly at home, having lost only once in their last 21 matches in the Cyprus championship and having scored in the last 16 out of 17 matches. Larnaca has problems with their attack, especially away, where they have not scored more than one goal in their last 4 matches. Both teams have a good chance of qualifying for European cups next season, and it is possible that both of them will finish the season in the top 3, but at the moment, I will trust Aris – a victory for them is more likely.
Prediction for the match: Aris to win with 0.0 handicap.
