Apoel Nicosia vs Ajax Amsterdam Preview

Ajax will look to build on their success in the Champions League last season by reaching the group stage yet again.  This time, they will have to do it without the help of some star players that have been important members of their team for the past few seasons.They have sold the likes of Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong this summer and come here having survived a major scare at the hands of PAOK in the last round.

APOEL were beaten at home 2-1 in the last round but showed some doggedness and determination to correct their wrongs with a 2-0 win away in the second leg against Qarabag. Their fans will be hoping they don’t leave it late again here and secure a good home advantage when Ajax come to town.

Ajax have started their season in fine fashion having won two and drawn one of their opening 3 league games.  This run of form places them at the top of the Dutch league table and while these are early days, their morale should be boosted by their early season form and that should help them put in a solid performance in this game.

APOEL are also not in the worst run of form ahead of this game as they have won 4 of their last 5 games ahead of this match.  The home side knows that it will be harder for them to get a result in Amsterdam and they will look to get a solid home advantage here.

We expect Ajax to come out playing their fast attacking brand of football spearheaded by the likes of Dusan Tadic and Hakim Ziyech; It remains to be seen how APOEL will react.

Bookmakers have priced Ajax up as long odds-on favourites to come out on top in this game while APOEL have a mountain to climb prior to kick-off.

Goal markets point to a lively game as over 2.5 goals is trading odds-on prior to kick-off while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is clear favourite to score the opening goal of the game.