West Ham face a difficult assignment in the home leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Bayer Leverkusen, who scored late at the BayArena last Thursday.
Leverkusen, who were tied at 0-0 heading into the final 10 minutes, ultimately broke through in the first leg, with Jonas Hofmann setting them up before Victor Boniface clinched the deal in stoppage time.
Leverkusen has already won the Bundesliga title, ending Bayern’s 11-year winning streak with a 5-0 demolition of Werder Bremen on Sunday, so confidence should be rushing through their veins after going 43 games unbeaten.
On the whole, it was a deserved first-leg success for Leverkusen, who dominated possession and won the shot count 33-1, which shows the size of the mountain that the Hammers have to climb as they attempt to try and overturn the deficit.
Team news
West Ham’s challenge has been made that bit harder with Lucas Paqueta and Emerson picking up yellow cards in the first leg which has ruled them out of the second.
Leading scorer Jarrod Bowen missed the trip to Germany and remains an injury doubt, while Alphonse Areola, Kalvin Phillips and George Earthy are sidelined.
Things are looking considerably better for Leverkusen, with Czech forward Adam Hlozek the sole definite absentee.
Bayer Leverkusen remains unbeaten in 43 matches across all competitions this season, with 38 wins and five draws.
Leverkusen has won 20 of their previous 22 games, including eight wins in a row.
Both teams have scored in five of Leverkusen’s last eight Europa League assignments.
West Ham have conceded the first goal in each of their last five games.
Both teams have scored in four of West Ham’s last six home matches and five of Leverkusen’s last seven games have generated at least three goals.
Prediction
Leverkusen’s two late goals in the opening leg suggests the Hammers were competitive but it was more to do with some slack finishing from the Germans and fine goalkeeping from Lukasz Fabianski.
The Bundesliga side dominated with 13 efforts on target last week, while they also racked up 10 corners and controlled possession with 78%.
West Ham are missing influential midfielder Pacqeuta through suspension and are also likely to be without their top-scorer Bowen, so it is hard to see that gulf in class being bridged at the London Stadium.
With the Bundesliga title now secured with five games to spare, Leverkusen will have their eyes on claiming the treble while boss Xabi Alonso will not want their 43-game unbeaten run to come to an end any time soon.
At some point, West Ham have to go for broke, but that will leave them even more vulnerable to Leverkusen’s pace and power on the counter-attack.
Therefore, Leverkusen are fancied to secure a ninth straight win and seal their semi-final spot in style.
