Analysis of West Ham's Europa League group

West Ham supporters could not have dreamed of a better draw. The Hammers were in pot 3 which meant the possibility of facing the likes of Lyon, Napoli, PSV, Eintracht Frankfurt, Celtic and Rangers. However, they avoided all of those. 

The Hammers were drawn against Dinamo Zagreb, one of the weaker teams from pot 1, Genk of Belgium and Rapid Vienna of Austria. All three teams are very winnable and West Ham, who are making their debut in a Europa League group stage, have also avoided long trips to Turkey and Russia. 

It is worth remembering that coming top will see them go straight into the last 16 while coming 2nd would see them have to face a Champions League 3rd placed side over two legs to get into the last 16.  Even coming third would see them remain in European competition but they would have to play a 2nd placed Europa Conference League club over two legs. However, given the draw, West Ham will be expecting a top two finish. 

Dinamo Zagreb are definitely West Ham's toughest opponents. The Croatian champions came top of their Europa League group last season before knocking out Krasnodar in the last 32. They then fought back from two goals down to eliminate Tottenham in the last 16. However, they lost 3-1 on aggregate to eventual winners Villarreal in the quarter-final. They have players such as Macedonian international Stefan Ristovski, Mislav Orsic of Croatia and former Malaga and Sporting Gijon striker Duje Cop. Spain international Dani Olmo was also at the club before moving to Leipzig.

Genk came second in the Belgian league last term. They also won the Belgian Cup last season beating Standard Liege 2-1 in the final and they were also in the 2019-20 Champions League group stage with Liverpool, Napoli and Salzburg. They came bottom of their group with just one point which came in a goalless draw with Napoli. There are few players you may be familiar with but Nigerian international Paul Onuachu is part of their squad.

Finally, Rapid Vienna were runners up in the Austrian league last season. The Austrians were also in the Europa League group stage last season with Arsenal, Molde and Dundalk. They came third with seven points, collecting six of those against the Irish club while they also drew one game with Molde. Against Arsenal, they were beaten 1-2 at home and 4-1 at the Emirates. Former Spurs defender Kevin Wimmer plays for them while Ercan Kara was their top scorer last season with 20 goals in all competitions.

 

August 27, 2021