West Ham welcome Eintracht Frankfurt to the London Stadium in the first leg of their semi-final tie in 2021-22 UEFA Europa League.
David Moyes’ Hammers qualified for this stage after stunning Lyon 4-1 on aggregate in their Quarter-Final tie, whilst Frankfurt saw off Barcelona in a surprise result to advance to this round.
Team News
Craig Dawson is available for West Ham despite his red card in their Premier League loss at Chelsea on Sunday, due to his suspension only applying to domestic matches.
Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen could both return to the starting eleven after making substitute appearances on Sunday, alongside Michail Antonio who was an unused substitute on the bench following six changes to the line-up.
Issa Diop, Kurt Zouma (both ankle) and Angelo Ogbonna (knee) remain absent
Frankfurt will be without Evan Ndicka as the central defender misses out through suspension after he was red carded in their second leg victory at Barcelona, which saw the Catalonian team eliminated as a consequence.
Djibril Sow (knee) is set to be back in contention but Christopher Lenz (calf) is a doubt for this opening leg of the semi-final.
Kristijan Jakic (suspension) and Diant Ramaj (knee) are absent.
Stat Attack
- West Ham have won just one of two previous meetings against Eintracht Frankfurt (W1, L1), which coincidentally came at semi-final stage of 1975-76 European Cup Winners Cup
- Eintracht Frankfurt are visiting the London Stadium for the very first time but lost their only previous away trip to West Ham 3-1 in April 1976 to crash out 4-3 on aggregate.
- West Ham have scored first in each of their two previous meetings against Eintracht Frankfurt without keeping a clean sheet.
- Just one of Said Benrahma’s three Europa League goals for West Ham this season was scored at the London Stadium.
- Three of Eintracht Frankfurt’s five away goals in the knockout stages have been scored by Filip Kostic, whilst Daichi Kamada and Rafael Borre both scoring once each.
Prediction
Despite resting several players in Sunday’s loss at Chelsea, West Ham definitely did well with a stubborn defensive display which was only undone by a clinical moment once down to 10 men, amidst various inaccurate or impatient finishing to their attacking chances.
Eintracht Frankfurt meanwhile have been inconsistent this season because whilst they have lacked consistency in the Bundesliga, they have been the complete opposite in Europe despite their defensive fragilities with just two clean sheets in all competitions in 2022.
Now if West Ham can correct their attacking issues from Sunday with Antonio and Bowen set to start and are perfect across the pitch, I can see a home win coming but Frankfurt do have an attack who seem to save their best for this competition so this could be intense.
West Ham’s home crowd therefore could well be the difference because if they can make the London Stadium feel like a fortress, it could well give their players a massive edge heading into the second leg with a win.
Prediction: West Ham 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Result: West Ham 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
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