Astra Giurgiu vs West Ham: Europa League Preview
Astra Giurgiu vs West Ham United (Thursday 18th August 2016, 7.45pm BST)
The saying goes that revenge is a dish best served cold but the Hammers have only had to wait a year for the opportunity to take on the opponents who knocked them out of the Europa League in 2015.
In an interesting twist of fate, the two teams have been drawn against one another just one round later than last year, but Bilic and his team will be hoping for a different outcome this time around.
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This may only be the first leg, with a return match at the Olympic Stadium next Thursday, but both teams will be looking for a win to make life easier for them in London as they look to progress to the group stages of the competition.
The Hammers
West Ham come into this game after a disappointing performance and defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Monday night. Hopefully they will have learnt a few things and we will see an immediate improvement, although we can expect the tactics to be vastly different to the way we set up against difficult opposition such as Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.
One thing is for certain, the team on Thursday will be very different to the one that got knocked out last year, which contained Kevin Nolan and Modibo Maiga. This year Bilic has a stronger squad, and a more planned preseason (as opposed to playing all the qualifying rounds last year) means we should see a lot more first team players, but still using the opportunity to give youth (Reece Oxford) and new signings (Gokhan Tore) a chance to impress.
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However, there are injury issues that could hold back the Hammers; Payet is still working his way back to full fitness and will certainly not play a full match if he does start, and Feghouli missed Monday’s match due to a minor injury. Given the quality of Payet and the performances of Feghouli in preseason, Hammers fans will be hoping that they are both back to full fitness very soon!
The Opposition
Astra are not coming into this match in the best of form, something the Hammers will be hoping to exploit. The Romanian league has been running for a few more weeks than the Premier League, but so far Astra have only managed a single win out of four games, conceding 6 goals along the way. As well as their poor performances in the domestic league, they are in the Europa League play-off round after being beaten 4-1 on aggregate by FC Copenhagen in the Champions League 3rd round of qualifying.
This does not mean that Bilic should allow his team to let any complacency creep into their performance; we know from Monday night that switching off can cause problems and we know from last year that Astra are not to be taken lightly.
Next: West Ham Open Contract Talks With Oxford
Suggested Line Up (4-2-3-1)
Adrian; Byram, Oxford, Collins, Masuaku; Noble, Kouyate; Antonio, Tore, Valencia; Carroll
Prediction
Astra Giurgiu 1-1 West Ham
A solid draw is a good result to take back to London, especially with an away goal, and hopefully we can finish them off in front of the home crowd next week.