West Ham kick off their UEFA Europa Conference League group stage campaign against Steaua Bucharest [FCSB] at the London Stadium on Thursday evening. The Irons narrowly missed out on Europa League qualification after finishing two points behind Manchester United in 7th spot in the Premier League last season.
The march to the semi-finals of the Europa League ultimately cost Hammers as their domestic form dropped off towards the end of the season as David Moyes focussed on Europe. West Ham now have to settle for a place in the Europa Conference League and the club should be quietly confident of going all the way to lift the trophy given the teams they’ll be up against.
Betting sites such as casinoclic casino enligne have West Ham priced as the 7/1 joint favourites to win the Europa Conference League along with Villarreal. Serie A side Fiorentina are third favourites at 10/1. Therefore, Moyes will be keen to live-up to their tag by impressing against FCSB in their Group B opener on Thursday night.
Betting odds
It will be interesting to see how much betting action there is in the markets on this game as there doesn’t appear to be much value around. Punters may prefer to gamble on the best real money pokies Australia to try and win big rather than bet on this match as West Ham are expected to ease to victory.
The Hammers are currently priced as the 2/11 favourites to win on Thursday meaning a £10 bet would return just £11.82 – which hardly seems worth it. If you fancy an upset then you can bet on the draw at 11/2 while FCSB are a whopping 13/1 to claim all three points. However, we expect West Ham to win and in order to extract more value we like the look of the correct score market, with the hosts 6/1 to win the game 3-0.
Team news
Moyes is likely to rotate his squad from the side that were unlucky to lose 2-1 at Chelsea on Saturday. The likes of Said Benrahma, Angelo Ogbonna, Max Cornet and Manuel Lanzini are all expected to be recalled. However, Nayef Aguerd remains on the sidelines with an ankle injury while Gianluca Scamacca is possibly a doubt due to illness. Aaron Cresswell also needs a late fitness test on a groin injury while Craig Dawson and Ben Johnson are out with hamstring issues.
Prediction
West Ham will still be reeling from the decision to rule out their late equaliser at Chelsea so Moyes will need to ensure they are fully focussed on this football match. FCSB should be no match for a Premier League side and even if Moyes fields a weakened team, West Ham should ease to a comfortable win.
Predicted score: West Ham 3-0 FCSB
Comments
Kidderminster should not have
Kidderminster should not have been a match either!
We lost overall
To Steau Bucharest last time in Europe and correct me if I'm wrong, we were favourites then as well.
yes agree
i don't like it when we are favourites we invariably loose much prefer being the under dogs
I would be inclined to go
I would be inclined to go reasonably strong for first 3 group games. Or if in a commanding position in each game make the changes early. Need to win the group first.