West Ham United will travel to Europa-Park Stadion to face SC Freiburg in the first leg of the Europa League Round of 16. They have shown good form in their past two matches and would be hoping to continue the momentum on Thursday.
The Hammers have been performing below par in the domestic league, they didn’t let that affect their Europa League campaign. They topped their group with five wins and a loss and qualified for the next round. Undoubtedly, they will be the favourites of the clash.
4-2-3-1 West Ham United Predicted Lineup Vs SC Freiburg
Defence
Lukasz Fabianski is expected to line up in the goal for West Ham United despite Alphonse Areola’s brilliant performances in the previous games. Right-back Vladimir Coufal needs to work on his crosses and try to be more creative on the offensive front.
While Kurt Zouma is going to continue as the centre-back, Nayef Aguerd is supposed to come back into the starting XI, replacing Konstantinos Mavropanos. Emerson will also be retained to conduct operations at the left-back after his decent performance.
Midfield
Edson Alvarez and Tomas Soucek will once again form the holding midfielders. The duo were excellent against Everton and would like to repeat the same against Freiburg.
The trio of James Ward-Prowse, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta will continue to operate in the midfield. They will once again be responsible for creating goal-scoring opportunities and helping the team score.
Attack
Jarrod Bowen will continue to be the striker of the lineup and lead the attacking line. He had a decent game in his previous outing but a lot more is expected of him. He should find the back of the net more often.
The Hammers have only one injury concern in the form of Maxwel Cornet, who is expected to remain sidelined until the end of this month.
