Gent welcome West Ham to Ghelamco Arena in the first leg of their 2022-23 UEFA Europa Conference League Quarter-Final.
Gent defeated Istanbul Basaksehir to secure their place in this Quarter-Final, whilst West Ham breezed past AEK Larnaca to book another Quarter-Final within an UEFA competition for a second consecutive season.
Team News
Gent have no fresh injury concerns to report but Jordan Torunarigha, Nuno Fortuna and Hugo Cuypers are at risk of suspension if pick up another booking.
Darko Lemajic (adductor), Sulayman Marreh (muscle) and Andrew Hjulsager (Achilles) remain absent, although Marreh is at risk of suspension if he picks up another booking.
West Ham will have midfielder, Lucas Paqueta back in contention after he missed their domestic win at Fulham with a knock.
Gianluca Scamacca remains absent with a knee injury.
When is Kick-Off?
Gent host West Ham at Ghelamco Arena, Ghent, in a 6:45pm CET (5pm UK Time) kick-off on Thursday 13 April, live on BT Sport in UK.
Stat Attack
- Gent have failed to beat West Ham in two previous meetings (D1, L1), in which they lost 2-1 on aggregate in Round One of 1964-65 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
- West Ham won 1-0 in their only previous visit to Gent in September 1964, courtesy of Ronald Boyce’s 52nd minute winner.
- Each of Gent’s two previous home games against English opposition have finished in a 1-0 result across all competitions (W1, L1), with their sole win coming against Tottenham in February 2017 in that season’s Europa League.
- Gent’s two goals at home in the knockout stages have been scored by Gift Orban (W1, D1).
- West Ham’s Scamacca has scored two of his five goals in this season’s Europa Conference League away from home, but is ruled out of this away game.
Prediction
Consistency during their Europa Conference League campaign hasn’t exactly been Gent’s strongest point but the Belgian team are unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions, boasting an in-form striker in Gift Orban who has proven difficult to keep quiet alongside Cuypers.
West Ham though will be buoyant by their unbeaten form during this Europa Conference League campaign but are embroiled in a domestic relegation scrap, which looks their biggest priority but they can take confidence from a huge win at Fulham with major improvement.
Now David Moyes’ Hammers must bring that performance level into this game because Gent won’t make this easy unlike many teams, but if they can build upon their defensive effort and improved intensity on show at Fulham then they should take this tie back home in the balance.
Prediction: Gent 1-1 West Ham
Result: Gent 1-1 West Ham
Leave a Reply