West Ham United face Lyon in the Europa League quarterfinals on Thursday looking to continue their European campaign after playing out a 1-1 draw in the first leg.
Bookmaker 10bet has the odds at 2.50 for West Ham to qualify for the next round and at 1.54 for Lyon to get through.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 13th, 2:00 P.M. (EST)
The Hammers took the lead a week ago, but they were forced to play the whole second half with 10 men and simply couldn’t hold on until the end. Failing to win at home could prove to be costly although the away rule has been scrapped in Europe this season.
Jarrod Bowen is having a superb campaign and it’s no surprise that he ended up being the scorer against Lyon. The 25-year-old has recorded 14 goals and 11 assists across all competitions this season and David Moyes will hope to squeeze another big performance out of him here.
Moyes will likely also want his men to tighten up at the back. West Ham have managed to keep just one clean sheet in their last four European outings and it’s going to be almost impossible for them to go all the way in the competition if they can’t improve defensively.
Lyon’s defense hasn’t been great either and their overall form leaves a lot to be desired as well. The team is struggling to get into the European positions in Ligue 1 this season and they host West Ham after winning just once in six games in all competitions.
Les Gone have an exciting attack with Lucas Paqueta, Moussa Dembele and Karl Toko Ekambi, but manager Peter Bosz hasn’t gotten the balance right in his team and there have been a lot of defensive shortcomings throughout the season.
Everything tends to run through Paqueta for Lyon and we should see the same on Thursday. The 24-year-old Brazilian is full of creativity and has a good eye for goal. He’s managed to score just twice in 2022 and should be on the brink of hitting form again. West Ham have to make sure that it won’t happen at the Groupama Stadium on Thursday.
Lyon have had a disappointing season but their home form has remained strong throughout 2021-22. They recently lost back-to-back home games but there have been just three defeats overall for them in front of their crowd. It’s a tough trip for West Ham and they need to be at their very best for it to be a successful one for them.
