West Ham United will have to do something this Thursday that no other team has done this season and that’s beat Bayer Leverkusen.
If the Irons want to secure a place in the Europa League semi-finals, they will have to overturn a 2-0 defeat from their quarter-final first leg clash with the German side last week. Late goals from Jonas Hofmann and Victor Boniface mean that David Moyes’ men now have a mountain to climb against Xabi Alonso’s unbeaten Leverkusen.
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West Ham may hope for a lapse in concentration from their visitors midweek after Leverkusen celebrated a first ever Bundesliga title on Sunday afternoon following a 5-0 thrashing of Werder Bremen. The newly-crowned champions will have undoubtedly had a few drinks after a first trophy since their DFB Pokal triumph in 1993.
Here is 90min’s guide to West Ham vs Bayer Leverkusen this Thursday.
West Ham vs Bayer Leverkusen H2H record (all-time)
Current form (all competitions)
|
West Ham |
Bayer Leverkusen |
|---|---|
|
West Ham 0-2 Fulham – 14/04/24 |
Leverkusen 5-0 Werder Bremen – 14/04/24 |
|
Leverkusen 2-0 West Ham – 11/04/24 |
Leverkusen 2-0 West Ham – 11/04/24 |
|
Wolves 1-2 West Ham – 06/04/24 |
Union Berlin 0-1 Leverkusen – 06/04/24 |
|
West Ham 1-1 Tottenham – 02/04/24 |
Leverkusen 4-0 Fortuna Dusseldorf – 03/04/24 |
|
Newcastle 4-3 West Ham – 30/03/24 |
Leverkusen 2-1 Hoffenheim – 30/03/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel / live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
TNT Sports 2, discovery+, discovery+ App |
|
United States |
Paramount+, ViX |
|
Canada |
DAZN |
West Ham‘s hopes of an unlikely turnaround are not helped by their absentees for Thursday’s clash, with Lucas Paqueta and Emerson unavailable after picking up suspensions.
Jarrod Bowen returned to training on Wednesday in a potentially huge boost, but it’s remains to be seen whether he’ll feature from the start. Kalvin Phillips has also trained after time out with a groin problem but Alphonse Areola won’t be ready because of a thigh issue.
Konstantinos Mavropanos is also a doubt for Leverkusen’s visit with a knock sustained during Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Fulham.
West Ham predicted lineup (4-3-3): Fabianski; Coufal, Zouma, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Alvarez, Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Kudus, Bowen, Antonio.
Even more bad news for Moyes is that Leverkusen have just one absentee for their trip to London, with fringe forward Adam Hlozek unavailable due to an ankle injury.
With the Bundesliga title now sewn up, Alonso will have no hesitation in fielding his strongest starting lineup and pushing them to their limits.
Bayer Leverkusen predicted lineup (3-4-2-1): Hradecky; Kossounou, Tah, Tapsoba; Frimpong, Xhaka, Palacios, Grimaldo; Wirtz, Adli; Boniface.
West Ham’s injury woes and poor defensive record at the London Stadium hand the advantage to Leverkusen ahead of Thursday’s second leg, with the Hammers needing to end the German side’s remarkable 43-game unbeaten record. Not only this, they will have to win by two or more goals.
Their only hope is that Leverkusen take their eye off the ball after celebrating their first Bundesliga title on Sunday, but that seems unlikely given the consistency of Alonso’s side this season. Realistically, it’s difficult to envisage West Ham turning things around, or even avoiding defeat.
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