West Ham vs Olympique Lyon: All you need to know about the French club

West Ham face Olympique Lyonnais in the Europa League last eight this week.

The Hammers defeated Sevilla in the last round giving fans an unforgettable night as they saw their side fight back from a loss in the first leg to win 2-1 against the favourites.

This time, West Ham will have the first leg at home before travelling to Lyon. Here’s all you need to know about the French team.

West Ham play Lyon in the Europa League quarter-final of the Europa League. Here’s information featuring form and player to watch regarding the Hammers’ opponents.

History
Founded in 1950, OL are one of France’s best clubs. They won their first Ligue 1 title in 2002, this began a record setting seven consecutive league title victories. They play at the new 60,000 seater Groupama Stadium build for Euro 2016 having left their spiritual home Stade Gerland. They have a reputation for bringing through great young players, most notably Karim Benzema.

This Season
Lyon currently sit 9th in France’s Ligue 1 division. This is an extremely disappointing campaign for one of the country’s top teams, however, they’re just six points away from 4th. They have been defensively poor having been compared to Leeds’ from a defence point of view under Marcelo Bielsa due to occasional mistakes and vulnerability to the counter-attack as they throw players forward and love to attack what is their strength.

However, they have been going strong in Europe as they topped Group A that featured the likes of Rangers, Sparta Prague and Brondby. Lyon won five out of six games in the group, only drawing to Rangers in the last match when already qualified. In the last 16 they scraped past Porto, who were on a run of over 50 matches unbeaten. To summarise, poor in the league but great on the continent this season.

Manager
Formally of Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, Peter Bosz is a Dutch coach known for his attacking philosophy that is influenced by legend Johan Cruyff. He is capable of building an entertaining side that can play free flowing football. On the other hand, Bosz teams are notoriously open. His inability to implement a solid defensive structure eventually cost him his job at Dortmund. French football pundit Julien Laurent, said on BT Sport after the draw was made that he believes Bosz could’ve have been sacked if it wasn’t for their good European run.

Players to Watch
Tanguy Ndombele, on loan from Spurs, is a familiar face. He is a brilliant technical player but suffers from inconsistency.

Lucas Paqueta is an exceptional attacking midfielder who is brilliant with the ball at his feet using a combination of dribbling and passing to standout in the Lyon team. He also has an eye for a goal. He’s a real danger.

Striker, Moussa Dembele, previously of Celtic and Fulham, will lead the line and has been in good form of late. He’s a clinical finisher.

Maxence Caqueret is a ball winning midfielder enjoying a fantastic season and could have the task of stopping Said Benrahma’s creativity.

Others to watch out for is winger Tete, having just signed from Shakhtar Donetsk, Houssem Aouar the talented midfielder linked to Premier League teams and Malo Gusto, an 18-year-old right-back full of energy. Anthony Lopes is an experienced goalkeeper and at centre-back Jerome Boateng at one point was a top class defender for Bayern Munich but is certainly past his peak.

On paper, they are a solid team but on the pitch have been underperforming.

How West Ham can beat them?
There is a reason why West Ham are favourites. Having beaten Sevilla there’s no doubt the East Londoners are a team to fear and with Lyon playing poorly in the domestic league many fancy West Ham to win.

But there’s a thought West Ham’s strengths are Lyon’s weakness. Experts believe the likes of Craig Dawson, Kurt Zouma and Tomas Soucek can physically out muscle them and their aerial prowess will cause Lyon discomfort. There’s also the counter-attack, West Ham struggle to break teams down that use a low block and sit deep but this isn’t Bosz’s way. He may change tactics for this one but a team weak at defending counter attacks with the likes of Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen ready to charge at them could cause OL trouble. Expect David Moyes to set West Ham up to defend solidly, soak up pressure then break with intensity, pace and power.