After taking a surprise lead in Group B with four points accumulated in their opening two games, AEK Athens have since slipped to third following home and away losses to Marseille by an aggregate score of 5-1.
A 2-0 home defeat on matchday four allowed new leaders Marseille to consolidate their place in the top two along with Brighton, who sit three points clear of the Yellow-Blacks heading into a crucial encounter on Thursday.
Matias Almeyda’s side have since returned to winning ways in the Greek Super League, with a 3-0 home victory over Lamia before the international break followed by a narrow 1-0
success away against Giannina on Sunday; back-to-back victories without reply has helped them move to within one point of league leaders Panathinaikos.
AEK Athens return to the Agia Sofia Stadium where they have not lost any of their last 11 games on the domestic front, but in the Europa
League, they have failed to win any of their last 14 home matches – the longest winless home run by any club in the competition’s history.
The Yellow-Blacks have also lost each of their last three home meetings with English clubs – losing to Nottingham Forest in 1978, Everton in 2009 and Leicester City in 2020 –
but their impressive win over Brighton a few months ago will give Almeyda’s men some hope of claiming a positive result on Thursday
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Brighton were aware of Nottingham Forest’s impressive home record heading into Saturday’s contest at the City Ground, but they managed to claim a 3-2 victory to end their six-game winless run in the Premier League.
An Evan Ferguson leveller was followed by two strikes from Joao Pedro either side of half time to put the Seagulls 3-1 in front, before Lewis Dunk was sent off for foul and abusive
language after VAR intervened to award Forest a penalty, which Morgan Gibbs-White converted to set up a nervy finish for the visitors.
