Why the Top Match Always Demands Attention
In Greek football, few Super League 1 fixtures combine such contrasting trajectories with so much recent history between the two clubs. The Top match between Olympiakos Piraeus and PAOK now has immediate weight in the title picture: Olympiakos Piraeus sit second with 22 points, four clear of PAOK in third on 18. The standings, rather than reputation alone, explain the intensity surrounding this meeting. Both sides have begun strongly, with Olympiakos Piraeus unbeaten in five matches and PAOK victorious in three of their last five.
The recent head-to-head record underlines how closely balanced this contest can be. Across 42 competitive matches covering roughly the last decade and a half, Olympiakos Piraeus won 19, PAOK took 13 and the remaining 10 were drawn. Olympiakos Piraeus also lead the goals scored column 57-45, although the average of 2.4 goals per game and a 55% rate for both teams scoring point to a fixture that has regularly produced meaningful exchanges rather than one-sided results. Olympiakos Piraeus have twice matched PAOK’s longest winning streak of two, but their own run of three victories is the longer recent streak in the data.
Goal timing reveals another recurring pattern: these matches tend to gather pace as they proceed. There have been 22 goals between minutes 76 and 90, compared with 11 in the opening 15 minutes and 18 from minutes 31 to 45. The scoring numbers also reflect PAOK’s attacking threat, with 45 of their 102 recent goals arriving after the interval. Even though both teams scored in 55% of meetings, just under half exceeded 2.5 goals, showing how often tactical control and tight margins have coexisted with attacking football.
Current form strengthens the sense that neither side enters without momentum. Olympiakos Piraeus have scored 11 and conceded only two in their last five, while PAOK’s corresponding figures are nine and eight. A. Živković leads the listed recent scorers with eight goals for PAOK, while A. El Kaabi’s five for Olympiakos Piraeus gives him the highest total among the hosts’ active players. With the league positions close, the Top match offers an immediate opportunity for one team to create separation at the top, while the other seeks evidence that its recent inconsistency can be corrected.
History: Olympiakos’ Long Edge, PAOK’s Recent Push
Olympiakos Piraeus hold the clearer historical advantage in recent competitive history. Across 42 meetings, the Piraeus club won 19 times, PAOK 13 and the teams drew 10. Olympiakos also scored more goals, 57 to 45, although the margin is narrower than their six-win advantage. The average of 2.4 goals per match and 48% of fixtures going beyond 2.5 goals show that this has generally been a productive, competitive matchup rather than a consistently cautious one. Both sides have demonstrated an ability to change the balance of the rivalry, but Olympiakos have held the upper hand for longer.
Olympiakos’ era of control
The season-by-season pattern identifies Olympiakos’ most sustained period of dominance between 2016 and 2023. In those eight seasons, Olympiakos won 13 of 29 listed matches, compared with nine victories for PAOK and seven draws. The advantage was established immediately: Olympiakos took three of the four meetings in 2016 and 2017, with PAOK registering only one win and one draw. Their longest winning streak in the overall head-to-head data reached three games, while their longest unbeaten run extended to five.
PAOK briefly interrupted that pattern in 2018, winning both meetings without a draw, but Olympiakos regained control from 2019 through 2023. During that five-season phase they won 10 of 15 fixtures, including two victories in every season except 2019, when PAOK won once and drew once. Olympiakos’ 2024 campaign strengthened their overall position further, with three wins in four meetings. Their 3–2 away victory in November was particularly significant, following a 2–0 home defeat earlier in the year, and demonstrated how quickly momentum could turn within the same season.
PAOK’s renewed influence
PAOK’s clearest recent breakthrough came in the four fixtures listed for 2025. The Thessaloniki club won twice and drew twice without Olympiakos recording a victory, reversing the broader pattern of the preceding eight years. Those results were built around a mixture of close contests and high-scoring encounters. The 4–2 match on May 4 was the highest-scoring meeting in the data, while four of the most recent ten fixtures were decided by a single goal. Olympiakos nevertheless responded with a 1–1 draw and a 3–1 home victory over PAOK in May 2026, showing that the shift in momentum has not produced complete control.
The latest ten meetings illustrate how compressed this rivalry has become. Each side won four, with two draws. PAOK’s success was not confined to home: alongside the 3–1 victory in May 2026 and a 2–0 win in May 2024, they also won 2–1 in October 2025 and April 2025. Olympiakos, however, have repeatedly punished PAOK at Piraeus, winning four of the last five home meetings shown. Venue figures underline the contrast across the full 42-match sample: Olympiakos won 11 of 21 home fixtures and lost five, whereas PAOK won eight of 21 and lost eight.
Scores, streaks and decisive moments
Olympiakos’ largest win in recent history was a 4–0 victory in November 2013, while PAOK’s biggest success was the 3–1 home win on May 3, 2026. The scoreline distribution suggests that narrow margins have often defined the matchup. A 1–1 draw occurred six times, as did a 1–0 Olympiakos victory, while 2–1 and 1–2 results were each recorded five times. Four matches finished 0–0. These outcomes explain how Olympiakos’ six-win aggregate advantage coexists with PAOK’s ability to remain closely competitive.
Timing data also points to matches remaining meaningful late. The 76th-to-90th-minute period produced 22 goals, more than any other 15-minute interval, while another 19 came between minutes 46 and 60. PAOK’s A. Živković leads the recorded scorers with eight goals, followed by Olympiakos’ A. El Kaabi on five. As the historical balance moves toward another closely fought chapter, the numbers reveal two defining strengths: Olympiakos’ greater consistency over the longer recent period, and PAOK’s increasing ability to turn individual fixtures and decisive late moments in their favor.
Iconic Moments
Olympiakos Piraeus 4-0 PAOK
The 4-0 victory on 10 November 2013 stands as the biggest Olympiakos Piraeus win in the supplied recent history. A four-goal margin represents the clearest separation between the two sides in the record, and it established the benchmark that later meetings have been measured against. The result also illustrates how quickly a match can tilt when one team breaks through and sustains its advantage across a decisive spell.
PAOK 3-1 Olympiakos Piraeus
PAOK’s 3-1 home victory on 3 May 2026 is listed as the biggest win for the Thessaloniki side and marks a particularly notable result in the latest chapter of this rivalry. The two-goal margin suggests a match in which PAOK’s scoring presence proved decisive, while the data also reflects the increasingly competitive nature of the fixture. It is one of the clearest examples of PAOK imposing its rhythm at home.
Olympiakos Piraeus 4-2 PAOK
The 4-2 meeting on 4 May 2025 produced the highest-scoring game among the listed matches, with six goals and a share of four for Olympiakos Piraeus. Its statistical importance is matched by its attacking character: neither side offered much defensive restraint, and Olympiakos Piraeus ultimately gained the decisive two-goal advantage. The result sits between the rivalry’s two largest wins and shows how a high-intensity match can reward the more productive attack.
PAOK 2-3 Olympiakos Piraeus
Olympiakos Piraeus edged PAOK 3-2 on 10 November 2024, combining a substantial away goal return with a narrow one-goal margin. The score reflects a pattern visible in several recent meetings: enough goals to keep the contest compelling, but only a slim difference separating the teams. It was also a notable counterpoint to PAOK’s own wins in the surrounding period, demonstrating that the fixture has repeatedly remained finely balanced even when both sides have found the net.
PAOK 2-0 Olympiakos Piraeus
PAOK’s 2-0 victory on 12 May 2024 was one of the cleaner results in the supplied list, with two goals and no reply from Olympiakos Piraeus. In contrast to the high-scoring 4-2 encounter, this match shows the value of defensive control and the possibility of a team establishing control without conceding. It also strengthened PAOK’s record in a period containing several one-goal wins, illustrating an alternative route to success in a closely matched rivalry.
Key Players: Current Threats and Historical Scoring Legacies
The recent scoring pattern for this Top match highlights two evenly matched attacking cores. Active players for Olympiakos Piraeus and PAOK have each contributed eight goals, while Olympiakos’ broader group of leading scorers holds a clear numerical advantage over PAOK’s listed scorers. With 19 goals among Olympiakos’ leading contributors and 11 for PAOK over this recent historical sample, the figures suggest that the rivalry’s goals have often been concentrated around a wider range of Olympiakos attackers, even though Živković is the leading individual scorer on the list.
Olympiakos Piraeus: El Kaabi Leading an Active and Historically Productive Attack
A. El Kaabi is the principal current scoring threat among Olympiakos’ active players, with five goals in the recent head-to-head sample. Gelson Martins has added three, giving the active Olympiakos contingent eight goals in total and reinforcing the club’s threat from more than one attacking source.
Olympiakos’ historical contributors underline the depth of its scoring record. G. Masouras leads the former players on the list with four goals, followed by Y. El-Arabi with three. L. Milivojević and Daniel Podence also recorded two goals apiece during their respective spells. Together, these former Olympiakos players account for 11 goals, compared with eight from the active pair, and demonstrate how the club’s recent scoring output has been shared across several attacking figures rather than resting on one name alone.
PAOK: Živković’s Eight Goals Define the Current Margin
A. Živković stands as PAOK’s leading current threat and the highest scorer in the complete recent list, with eight goals. His contribution accounts for the entire eight-goal total registered by PAOK’s active players in this sample. That concentration makes him especially important to the visiting side’s chances of matching Olympiakos’ broader attacking numbers.
Former PAOK forward S. Athanasiadis adds three goals to the club’s historical total of 11. Although that figure is smaller than Olympiakos’ 19 among its listed leading scorers, PAOK’s active scoring is entirely concentrated in Živković. The contrast defines the central personnel battle: Olympiakos can draw on two active contributors, El Kaabi and Martins, while Živković carries the weight of PAOK’s listed attacking production.
Current Form and Season Context: Olympiakos Piraeus Hold the Clear Edge
Olympiakos Piraeus enter Sunday’s Top match in the stronger position, sitting second with 22 points from nine games after a sequence of DWWWW. Their unbeaten run has produced four wins and one draw, with 11 goals scored and only two conceded. That defensive record points to a side combining consistency with control: Olympiakos have not only collected points at a rapid rate, but have also prevented their opponents from establishing a sustained scoring threat. Their title and championship motivation remains clear, while four days of rest and a lighter recent schedule—two games in the last ten days—should leave them ready for the demands of this rivalry.
PAOK are third on 18 points and have won three of their last five league matches, but the WLWLW sequence also includes two defeats and an 8-goal concession rate. Compared with Olympiakos’ two goals against, PAOK’s recent defensive record is notably more vulnerable, and the potential absence of defender Jonjoe Kenny adds further uncertainty to their back line. Their seven-day rest offers no significant advantage over Olympiakos, meaning the visitors’ path to a positive result depends more on improving their defensive structure than on physical freshness. The standings confirm that both teams remain firmly in the title and championship race, but Olympiakos’ four-point advantage and superior form provide the stronger platform from which to approach the meeting.
The broader recent pattern also favours Olympiakos Piraeus. Across the ten seasons listed, they won 16 meetings, compared with 11 for PAOK, with three draws, including dominant 3-1 and 2-0 season sweeps in 2024 and 2022. Although PAOK showed strength in 2025 and 2018, Olympiakos have generally held the upper hand over the last decade. Their current unbeaten run, tighter defensive numbers and greater consistency suggest they should dictate the pace, while PAOK’s scoring record shows enough attacking potential to threaten a result if they can limit their defensive errors. Bet365’s 1X2 prices of Olympiakos Piraeus 1.62, draw 3.9 and PAOK 5 reflect the market’s clear preference for the home side without dismissing PAOK’s ability to respond. Kickoff is at 19:00 GMT in London on Sunday, November 8, 2026.
Prediction and Betting Analysis: Olympiakos Piraeus vs PAOK
1X2 outlook: Olympiakos hold the edge
Across the supplied 42-match recent-history sample, Olympiakos Piraeus won 19 times, PAOK won 13 and 10 matches were drawn. That produces raw H2H probabilities of 45.2% for an Olympiakos win, 23.8% for a draw and 31.0% for a PAOK victory. The head-to-head record therefore points toward the home side, but not with the same conviction as Bet365’s market price of Olympiakos 1.62, draw 3.9 and PAOK 5.
After normalizing those prices, the market assigns approximately 57.5% to Olympiakos, 23.9% to the draw and 18.6% to PAOK. For readers in the United Kingdom, the match starts at 19:00 GMT on Sunday, November 8, 2026. Those odds are best treated as a price reference rather than a standalone betting instruction.
Olympiakos enter with momentum, having won their previous five matches, and sit second in the championship group with 22 points from nine games. PAOK are third on 18 points and arrive with a less consistent recent sequence of wins, losses, wins, losses and a win. The schedule offers no meaningful rest advantage: Olympiakos have had four days and two games in the past ten days, compared with PAOK’s seven days and one match.
PAOK’s likely suspension of defender Jonjoe Kenny could also affect their defensive balance. If he is absent, the home side may have greater scope to create chances in wide or transition areas. Taking account of the H2H record, current league positions and recent form, a reasonable analytical estimate is 55% Olympiakos Piraeus, 25% draw and 20% PAOK. The market is more bullish on the hosts, but the latest meetings show that PAOK retain the ability to disrupt the expected hierarchy.
Goals and correct-score profile
The H2H sample has an average of 2.4 goals per match. In the supplied recent data, 48% of matches went over 2.5 goals, while 55% featured both teams scoring. Those figures make an over-2.5 line more prominent than a high-scoring conclusion by themselves: just under half of the matches cleared that threshold.
The common scorelines offer several ways to interpret the pattern. 1-1 occurred six times, as did a 1-0 Olympiakos victory. A 1-2 PAOK win and a 2-1 Olympiakos win each appeared five times, while four matches finished 0-0 and three ended 0-2. The frequency of one-goal home wins and draws suggests that a narrow margin is often more realistic than a rout.
For this fixture, 1-1 represents the most balanced correct-score selection, while 1-0 and 2-1 align more closely with Olympiakos’ H2H and market advantages. A 0-2 scoreline has appeared less often, although it would suit PAOK if Kenny’s absence disrupts the home defense and the visitors control the match.
Goal timing and betting angles
The goal distribution is weighted toward the later stages. There were 22 goals between minutes 76 and 90, the largest interval in the sample, followed by 19 between minutes 46 and 60 and 18 between minutes 31 and 45. The first 15 minutes contained 11 goals, while the 16-to-30-minute period produced 16. Across all six intervals, the 99 recorded goals average approximately 2.36 per match, closely matching the reported match average of 2.4.
This concentration gives added context to the second half. A cautious over-2.5 interpretation is supported by the 48% rate, but the timing data suggests that many goals arrive after the interval break rather than exclusively in the opening phase. Both teams to score is supported by the 55% H2H rate and by the prominence of 1-1, 1-2 and 2-1 scorelines, although Kenny’s potential absence introduces uncertainty on PAOK’s defensive side.
The strongest analytical lean is therefore Olympiakos Piraeus to win, with a secondary inclination toward both teams scoring. Over 2.5 remains credible but carries less statistical support than the home-win conclusion. PAOK’s 5 price reflects their weaker recent run and defensive uncertainty, yet their 13 victories in the 42-match sample underline the danger of treating the away side as merely a secondary option.
Home Ground Advantage: Where Each Club Shows Its Edge
Olympiakos Piraeus have produced the stronger and more reliable home record, winning 11 of their 21 home matches compared with eight for PAOK. Their goal figures reinforce that advantage: 32 goals scored and only 20 conceded, giving them a positive balance of 12. PAOK’s home record has been less secure by comparison, with eight wins, five draws and eight defeats, while their 25 goals scored and conceded leave the ledger exactly level. Olympiakos therefore appear more comfortable imposing themselves at home, where their defensive record has helped turn a high win total into a convincing points-returning platform.
Home advantage looks meaningful for Olympiakos, although it is not absolute. Five home defeats show that visiting sides have regularly found ways to trouble them, while the five draws indicate that not every match is resolved outright. PAOK have also demonstrated considerable home resilience: eight wins are only three fewer than Olympiakos’s total, and the five draws are identical. The major difference lies at the opposite end of the scale, where Olympiakos have lost five home matches and PAOK eight, suggesting that Olympiakos have generally made their own ground harder to breach than PAOK have.
The available figures do not directly establish which team is more dangerous away, since no away records are provided. What they do show is that Olympiakos possess the stronger established home profile and a markedly better defensive balance, whereas PAOK’s home results have been more volatile. Any assessment of danger on the road must therefore come from the wider tactical and match pattern rather than an unsupported comparison. Even so, Olympiakos’s combination of 32 home goals and 20 conceded gives them the clearest statistical foundation for treating their home matches as a significant advantage in this Top match.
Head-to-Head Trends and Betting Insights
Olympiakos Piraeus have held the clearer head-to-head advantage over the last decade and a half, winning 19 of 42 competitive meetings while PAOK have taken 13, with 10 draws. That gives the home side a 69% win-or-draw rate in this sample, making an Olympiakos double-chance selection more defensible than backing either team to win outright. The venue pattern reinforces the edge: Olympiakos have won 11 and drawn five of 21 home matches, compared with eight wins, five draws and eight defeats for PAOK at home. Across the listed seasons, Olympiakos have generally maintained the stronger run, notably winning three times in 2024 and twice in each of 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2017. PAOK’s strongest seasonal spell came in 2025, when they won twice and drew twice, while their 2018 campaign produced two wins from two meetings without a defeat.
The scoring profile suggests caution on high-total bets. Both teams have scored in 55% of these matches, but the over-2.5 line has been reached in only 48%, leaving a modest statistical preference for under 2.5 rather than an aggressive goals market. The average of 2.4 goals per game is consistent with that pattern. Six 1-1 draws and six Olympiakos 1-0 wins illustrate how frequently a tight, low-scoring result has shaped the matchup, while five 1-2 and five 2-1 scorelines show that a narrow margin remains more typical than a rout. Even the heaviest recorded results have been controlled: the biggest Olympiakos victory was 4-0, PAOK’s largest was 3-1 and the highest-scoring meeting finished 4-2.
Goal timing points to a match that often develops late. The recorded goal tally is highest from 76 to 90 minutes with 22, followed by 19 between 46 and 60 minutes, whereas only 11 arrived in the opening 15 minutes. The second half therefore carries more danger in the data than the first, making live interest in the first-half total and an over line for the second half more logical than simply backing a high total from the outset. A. Živković leads the PAOK scorers with eight goals, while A. El Kaabi’s five for Olympiakos gives the home side’s leading active contributor a substantial presence in the recent scoring pattern. With Olympiakos also arriving on stronger form—four wins and a draw, with 11 goals scored and only two conceded—the most coherent betting angle is Olympiakos or draw, combined with under 2.5 rather than a bet on a goal-heavy outcome.
Top Match FAQ
Who has won more derbies between Olympiakos Piraeus and PAOK?
Olympiakos Piraeus have won more of the 42 matches in the supplied head-to-head record. Their 19 victories compare with 13 for PAOK, while the remaining 10 fixtures ended in draws. Olympiakos therefore hold a six-win advantage and have accounted for nearly half of all victories in the rivalry. The 57-45 aggregate goal figures also point in the same direction, indicating that Olympiakos have generally had the stronger scoring impact.
What is the biggest win in this head-to-head record?
The largest victory belongs to Olympiakos Piraeus, whose 4-0 win is the biggest winning margin in the supplied 42-match dataset. PAOK’s largest win is a 3-1 victory. The difference between those margins illustrates the imbalance in the most decisive outcomes: Olympiakos have not only won six more matches overall, but they have also produced the standout result in the record.
How many goals are scored in an average Olympiakos Piraeus versus PAOK derby?
The derbies have produced an average of 2.4 goals per match across the 42 fixtures, with 102 goals scored in total. Olympiakos Piraeus account for 57 of those goals and PAOK for the remaining 45. Both teams have also scored in 55% of matches, while 48% have contained more than 2.5 goals. The figures suggest a contest with a meaningful attacking contribution from both sides, although the average remains below three goals per game.
Who is the top scorer in the Olympiakos Piraeus versus PAOK head-to-head record?
A. Živković is the leading scorer in the supplied derby data with eight goals. His total stands apart in a record shaped by several prolific performances, but it also shows how much the 57-45 scoring balance is driven by distributed contributions rather than one player alone. Goals from both sides have combined to make this a relatively productive rivalry, with nearly one in every two matches reaching more than 2.5 goals.
Does home advantage have a major effect in this derby?
The provided figures do not separate home and away results, so the scale of home advantage cannot be measured from this dataset. Olympiakos Piraeus do, however, hold the stronger overall scoring record at 57 goals compared with PAOK’s 45, alongside more wins and fewer draws. That imbalance suggests Olympiakos have generally been the more productive side in the recorded meetings, but it does not establish how many of those benefits came specifically from playing at home.
When is the next Olympiakos Piraeus versus PAOK match?
The next listed derby is scheduled for 8 November 2026. The fixture is listed as Array vs Array, so no additional venue, competition, or playing-time information is provided. The preceding head-to-head numbers still offer the clearest guide to its likely pattern: Olympiakos have won more often, their aggregate goal contribution is higher, and 55% of the matches have featured both teams scoring.