PAOK are appearing as the early favourites for this season’s Super League, after they managed to escape with a fortunate 0-1 win at Georgios Karaiskakis against a very offensive Olympiacos side. The home team lost a series of major opportunities and had winger Podence on a great day, however many of their chances were either wasted by forward Hassan, or ended up on PAOK goalkeeper Alexandros Paschalakis who has been in great form recently.

On the 49th minute of the game, a cross by PAOK captain Vieirinha was seemingly heading toward the arms of the Olympiacos goalkeeper, Andreas Gianniotis, however he misjudged the ball’s course, letting go loose. Defender Vukovic tried to save the goal but all he managed to do was kick the ball into the back of his own net, writing the final score between the two teams.

After the game, the home crowd applauded the efforts of their team despite the loss, in a show of maturity that is rarely seen in Greek stadiums.

In other games, champions AEK were able to recover after their two losses in a row against Ajax and PAOK, beating OFI 0-3 in Crete. The home team was reduced to 10 men after Dimitris Komesidis was sent off on the 30th, making things a lot less complicated for the yellow-and-blacks.

Whatever Giorgos Donis is doing in the training grounds of Peania seems to be working, because the young team of Panathinaikos just cannot stop winning. Their most recent victim was PAS Giannena who they beat 2-1 at the Olympic Stadium in Athens for their fifth win in a row. This time, they came from behind as Giannena were the ones to find a goal first, however the greens maintained their composure, kept piling on the pressure and eventually sought out the three points.

Aris is another team that returned to form last weekend after overcoming the difficult challenge presented by Asteras, 2-0, with both goals coming very late in the contest. Meanwhile, silently climbing the ranks are Atromitos, who have four wins and a draw after last weekend’s 0-2 victory at Levadiakos. At the end of day five, PAOK and Atromitos are currently in the lead with 13 points each, with AEK, Aris and Olympiacos all sharing second place with 12 points as the big game between AEK and Olympiacos looms on the horizon.

GREEK SUPER LEAGUE DAY 5 RESULTS

Saturday 29 September

AEL – Panetolikos 1-0 (3′ Milosavljevic)
Panathinaikos – PAS Giannena 2-1 (43′ Chatzigiovannis, 59′ Macheda / 23′ Krizman)
OFI – AEK (30′ sent off Komesidis / 20′ Bakasetas, 32′ Rodrigo Galo, 65′ Ponce)
Apollon Smyrnis – Panionios 0-2 (37′, 50′ Durmishaj)

Sunday 30 September

Levadiakos – Atromitos 0-2 (47′ Vasilakakis, 64′ Ugrai)
Aris – Asteras Tripolis 2-0 (87′ pen. Younes, 90’+3′ Mateo Garcia)
Olympiacos – PAOK 0-1 (49′ OG Vukovic)

Monday 01 October

Lamia – Xanthi 0-0

GREEK SUPER LEAGUE DAY 6 FIXTURES

Panionios – Aris
Panetolikos – Levadiakos
Asteras Tripolis – Panathinaikos
Lamia – OFI
PAOK – Apollon Smyrnis
Atromitos – PAS Giannena
AEK – Olympiacos
Xanthi – AEL