Athens derby stalemate gifts Reds eight-point lead

The Athens derby between Panathinaikos and AEK finished goalless on Sunday night, allowing Olympiakos to stretch its lead at the top of the Super League table to eight points.

Two and a half years after the last big Athens derby and the return of AEK from the wilderness of the lower divisions, fans were treated to an unsatisfactory spectacle at the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium that left much to be desired in what was also Gus Poyet’s debut on the AEK bench.

The best moment of the derby was the Marcus Berg shot that hit the AEK crossbar 15 seconds into the second half.

On Saturday Olympiakos had a below-par performance at Veria, but two second-half goals from Brown Ideye and Jimmy Durmaz gave the champion a 2-0 win, the ninth victory in as many league games so far this season.

The Reds now have 27 points, Panathinaikos is on 19 and AEK on 17.

Panionios is a surprise fourth with 16, after yet another away win, this time at Levadiakos with a 2-0 score.

PAOK has dropped to sixth, on 14 points, one behind Asteras Tripolis that beat the Thessaloniki giant 2-1 at home on Sunday, goals coming from Facundo Bertoglio and Papa Khalifa Sankare, after PAOK had led via Dimitris Pelkas.

In other weekend games Xanthi came from behind to down Panetolikos 3-1 at home, Platanias defeated Kalloni Lesvou 2-1 at Hania and PAS Giannina saw off bottom side Panthrakikos 2-0 at Ioannina.

On Monday Iraklis hosts Atromitos.