West Ham vs Freiburg predictions: Hammers to chisel out second-leg win
- Freiburg hold a 1-0 first-leg lead in this Europa League tie
- The Hammers have won all 10 home European games in last two seasons
- Recommended bet: West Ham to qualify
It was advantage Freiburg after the first leg of this Europa League last-16 clash after Michael Gregoritsch scored the only goal of the game in Germany.
However, West Ham should believe they can overturn that 1-0 deficit, having already beaten Freiburg 2-0 at home this season in the group stage of this competition.
Team news
Left-back Emerson is battling to be fit for West Ham and Ben Johnson and Aaron Cresswell stand by to deputise for the Italian, whose link play with Lucas Paqueta will be hard to replace.
Maxwel Cornet is out, but Nayif Aguerd and Michail Antonio should be fit after weekend comebacks.
Long-term absentees Kenneth Schmidt and Philipp Lienhart remain sidelined for Freiburg, who are expected to line up in a 4-2-3-1 with Roland Sallai dropping off the front where Lucas Holer will be the target man.
The stats
West Ham have played ten home European ties over the past two seasons and won all ten, including a 2-0 triumph over Freiburg in the group stage.
Freiburg have lost eight of 13 away matches in the Bundesliga, only Union Berlin have lost more games on the road.
Prediction
West Ham might not be the most consistent of sides, but when it comes to winning European ties, they appear to have that skill set perfected.
The last time they trailed 1-0 going into the second leg of a European tie was at this stage of the 2021-22 Europa League against Sevilla, a tie they overturned at the London Stadium.
David Moyes’ men would go on to reach the semis that year, then win the Conference League last term, showing a European pedigree that makes them hard to resist at home to mid-division German opposition.
Freiburg are clearly capable having won the home tie, though they lost to the Irons twice in the group stage and better finishing by the Hammers last Thursday would have given this contest a very different look to it.
West Ham have won their last 10 home European matches, while only one side in the Bundesliga has lost more away games than dodgy travellers Freiburg.
Moyes will not be panicked into changing the way West Ham play, but they are the bet to wear down Christian Streich’s side and qualify for the last eight.
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