Bayer Leverkusen-West Ham is a Europa League quarterfinal first leg match and is played Thursday at 9 p.m.: live TV, likely lineups, predictions.
Who will stop Bayer Leverkusen? They’ve been asking themselves this question in Germany for a while now, but so far no one has managed to put a spoke in the wheels of Xabi Alonso’s “terrible boys,” still in the running for what would be a resounding Triplete (Bundesliga, German Cup and Europa League).
The Aspirins at home are just two points away from their first title-they would only need to beat Werder Bremen on the next day to win it arithmetically-and in the final of the national cup, scheduled for the end of May, they will face a team, Kaiserslautern, that plays in the Zweite Liga, the German Serie B. Two trophies, then, are well within reach, the more complicated one being, of course, the Europa League, where between now and the final there are still several hurdles, not easy to overcome. Anything is possible, however, for a Leverkusen side that is undefeated for an impressive 42 games (no defeats in the season among the various competitions) and does not seem to set limits for itself. This is undoubtedly their year.
The year of Leverkusen
Schick and his teammates, in fact, manage to pull through even when things get bad: emblematic, in this regard, is the comeback in the round of 16 against Qarabag, overturned thanks to a double by the former Roma striker (3-2) in the midst of recovery that avoided elimination (in Azerbaijan it had ended 2-2).
In the quarters Alonso and his men will take on West Ham, which dreams of winning another European cup after triumphing in the Conference League last year. The Hammers have already knocked off a German side, outclassing Freiburg (5-0 in the return leg in London) in the previous round. In the Premier League, however, the Londoners are too erratic: before last Saturday’s victory with Wolverhampton (1-2), they had collected two draws and two defeats and now can only aspire to sixth place at best (they are seventh).
The Prediction
First official confrontation between the two teams, who faced each other last summer in a friendly (Bayer Leverkusen overwhelmed the Hammers 4-0). In the Europa League, Xabi Alonso’s men have been less dominant than in the Bundesliga and we may see a more open double-header than expected, but at the BayArena a positive result from them is highly likely: however, it cannot be ruled out that West Ham also score at least one goal.
The probable lineups of Bayer Leverkusen-West Ham
BAYER LEVERKUSEN (3-4-2-1): Kovar; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapié; Frimpong, Xhaka, Andrich, Grimaldo; Adli, Wirtz; Schick.
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Fabiański; Coufal, Mavropanos, Zouma, Emerson Palmieri; Souček, Álvarez; Bowen, Paquetá, Kudus; Antonio.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
