2023-24 UEFA Europa League – Round of 16: Second Leg – West Ham vs Freiburg

West Ham host Freiburg at London Stadium in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie in 2023-24 UEFA Europa League.

Trailing 1-0 on aggregate from the first leg, West Ham simply have to win by two goals or more if want to advance to the Quarter-Finals, although a one-goal victory would force extra-time and potentially penalties.

Freiburg meanwhile will advance with a win or draw.

 

Team News

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Emerson Palmieri is a doubt for West Ham after he missed their 2-2 draw against Burnley in the Premier League, having suffered a groin injury in the first leg of this tie against Freiburg.

Maxwell Cornet (hamstring) remains absent.

Freiburg could welcome Jordy Makengo (illness) and Noah Weisshaupt (knock) back into contention, after the pair missed the club’s Bundesliga win at VfL Bochum.

Philipp Lienhart (groin) could also be in contention but Daniel Kofi-Kyereh (ACL), Max Rosenfelder (tendon), Lukas Kubler (hip) and Kenneth Schmidt (abdominal) remain ruled out.

 

When is Kick-Off?

West Ham host Freiburg at London Stadium on Thursday 14 March at 5:45pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• West Ham have won two of their three previous meetings against Freiburg (W2, L1), which all came in this season’s competition.
• Freiburg lost 2-0 in their only previous visit to West Ham in December 2023 in their final group match of this season’s tournament.
• Mohammad Kudus has scored three of West Ham’s six goals at home in this campaign.
• Four of Freiburg’s six away goals in this season’s competition have been scored by Vincenzo Grifo.

 

Prediction

After playing a match of two halves against Burnley, West Ham need to play with the attacking dominance of the second half in that game but tighten up defensively rather than adopt a cautious defensive strategy, especially if want to turn this tie around.

Freiburg meanwhile hold a narrow aggregate lead but they can’t afford to sit back after losing 2-0 here in December, because if they allow West Ham to get on the front foot and score early then they will have a difficult task on their hands to get through to the Quarter-Finals.

West Ham also have the experience of being in this exact situation against Sevilla at this very stage two years ago, yet have added experience so if they score first then there will be just one outcome and this time hopefully without extra time.

Prediction: West Ham 2-0 Freiburg

Result: West Ham 5-0 Freiburg (West Ham win 5-1 on aggregate)