For Thursday’s match, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio have not left the house
David Moyes cautions his West Ham players not to undervalue Backa Topola, even though the Serbian minnows are hosting a Europa League match in a stadium with a capacity of only 4,500.
David Moyes asserts that when West Ham plays at the TSC Arena, a 4,500-seat stadium, they won’t make the error of undervaluing Backa Topola.
By defeating the Serbian minnows on Thursday night, the Hammers can maintain their lead in Group A of the Europa League.
However, Moyes maintains that just because the stadium has fewer supporters than the majority of those in England’s National League, they cannot be led into a false sense of security.
“We aim to prevail here.” comparatively small stadium, but the field appears well-maintained. Every game in Europe is challenging for me. Nothing is simple.
We are obviously well aware of the excellent outcome they achieved over the weekend, defeating Partizan, the top team in Serbian SuperLiga, 4-0 on the road. They had a fantastic performance at the London Stadium.
In the rematch, Topola had the lead but eventually lost 3-1 thanks to goals from Tomas Soucek and Mohammed Kudus.
For Thursday’s match, Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio have not left the house. Divin Mubama, a 19-year-old academy prospect, is being called up front by West Ham supporters, who want him to start ahead of Danny Ings.
For their Europa League trip to Backa Topola, West Ham will be without forwards Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio due to knee injuries sustained during the international break.
Due to their absence, manager David Moyes might have to start Divin Mubama, a teenage striker, in Serbia.
If the Hammers prevail, they will guarantee their spot in the knockout stages.
“Jarrod hasn’t travelled and we’ve got another couple who have some illness,” stated Moyes.
At the top of Group A, West Ham and Freiburg—who they will play in the championship game—are tied on nine points. The group winner advances to the round of 16, while the runner-up advances to the play-off round to face the teams that finished third in the Champions League group stage.
“Over the past few years, we have enjoyed our travels throughout Europe. Even now, we still enjoy it. We arrive in yet another new city,” Moyes remarked.
“When we first arrived in Europe, we wanted the fans to have fun, enjoy traveling, act appropriately, and ideally watch their team succeed.
“Hopefully they would all stand back and say we’ve had a couple of really good years in Europe.”
The Europa League is currently inching closer to the elimination phase of the competition. Teams are aiming to advance straight to the round of 16 or to the play-offs where they will square off against teams from the Champions League that finished in third place.
As we approach matchday five, only Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen, led by Xabi Alonso, have been confirmed to finish in the top two of their respective groups.
With Toulouse needing to lose in order to top the group and Liverpool needing to win, every British team participating in the competition has a strong chance of qualifying.
To advance to the round of 16, West Ham, Brighton, and Rangers will need to overcome a challenging task: attempting to avoid facing a Champions League relegated team in a play-off.
In light of the fixtures this week, what are the permutations for each of the eight groups? Sport Mail delves deeply into the possible results.
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