West Ham United return to Europa League action on Thursday

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West Ham United return to Europa League action on Thursday evening for the first leg of their last-16 tie with Sevilla. While the Hammers make the trip to Estadio Ramon Sánchez Pizjuan sitting in sixth position in the Premier League standings, the Spanish giants are second in La Liga.

A festival of midweek continental football continues with Sevilla the third of four Spanish clubs to host a UEFA knockout fixture this week as they continue pursuing a record seventh UEFA Cup/Europa League (UEL) trophy. If that isn’t enough motivation, the upcoming final booked for the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium could give them the opportunity to become the first team in 20 years to win a UEFA Cup/UEL final at their own stadium.

Sevilla have never lost to English opposition in UEFA’s second tier competition (W6, D1), accounting for Liverpool, Wolverhampton and Manchester United on the way to their two most recent titles in 2019/20 and 2015/16. A ten-game unbeaten streak at home in all tournaments (W7, D3) has included six opening goals inside the first 30 minutes of a game, illustrating how strong they start at home.

West Ham’s successful maiden appearance in a UEL group stage has led to their first UEFA fixture during the spring since the 1980/81 Cup Winners’ Cup (CWC), one season before manager David Moyes made his UEFA debut as a player for Celtic in the European Cup. The now defunct CWC was also the club’s last trip to Spain for any UEFA competition.

After three domestic away trips without victory (D1, L2), the ‘Hammers’ may welcome a reset to their otherwise promising Premier League campaign in the form of a continental sojourn, and ought to be confident of a shock win after winning 2-0 at Dinamo Zagreb in the group stage – a feat Sevilla themselves failed to achieve just a fortnight ago (L 0-1).

Date: 10/03/2022
Time: 20:45
Venue: Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán (Sevilla)
Pick for this match:
“1” – @ 2.17 ( BETWAY )