West Ham VS SC Freiburg Europa League Second Leg Match Preview: Team News, Build Up And Where To Watch
After losing 1-0 in the first leg, West Ham must turn over their German opponents to qualify for the quarter finals of the Europa League.
Build Up
The Hammers look to reach the quarter finals of another European tournament, however Michael Gregoritsch has given them a tough task to handle. The Austrian international gave Freiburg a late 1-0 lead in the first leg at the Europa-Park Stadion.
The away fixture for West Ham was a tight game to say the least, with the stats being level for the majority of the game. However the talking point of the first leg was the controversial VAR decision. The ball was played forward in the Freiburg box late during stoppage time; it looked as though the ball struck Freiburg’s Weisshaupt on the hand. Almost every West Ham player immediately requested a penalty, but it was of no consequence because the referee did not award one.VAR was then called upon, sending the referee to review the penalty for the majority of the stoppage time, but to everyone’s surprise no penalty was given. The West Ham players and coaching staff were furious. This resulted in Freiburg taking the victory, putting West Ham on the back foot in this return fixture.
Both teams played domestically last weekend, neither team lost. West Ham came back from 2 goals down to draw against Burnley at home, while Freiburg won 2-1 on the road against VFL Bochum. Going into the game off the back of 2 wins in a row and a draw against Bayern Munich, Freiburg will definitely fancy themselves the favourites. West Ham having the home advantage will boost morale in their camp. It is written for this to be another close match up.
Team News
West Ham did suffer with an injury last fixture, with Emerson taking a blow to the thigh. Besides this the only injury that West Ham carry is still Maxwel Cornet. Freiburg have a more lengthy injury list, the players missing are: Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, Kenneth Schmidt, Max Rosenfelder, and Noah Weisshaupt. Philipp Lienhart could make a return this game after suffering a groin injury in January. Jordy Makengo has also recovered from illness.
West Ham Predicted XI:
Formation – 4-2-3-1
GK-Fabianski, LB-Cresswell, LCB-Aguerd, RCB-Zouma, RB-Coufal, LCM-Álvarez, RCM-Soucek, CAM-Ward-Prowse, LM-Paquetá, RM-Kudus, ST-Bowen
this line up does not include Emerson, although he is likely to be on the bench. it also excludes greek defender Mavropanos who may be replaced by Aguerd.
SC Freiburg Predicted XI:
Formation – 4-4-2
GK-Atubolu, LB-Günter, LCB-Gulde, RCB-Ginter, RB-Sildillia, LM-Grifo, LCM-Höfler, RCM-Eggestein, RM-Doan, LST-Sallai, RST-Höler
This is the same line up as the last leg for Freiburg.
Where To Watch
West Ham VS SC Freiburg kicks off at 5:45pm on Thursday 14th March, the match will be televised on TNT Sports 1 and Discovery+.
