West Ham take on the visitors AZ Alkmaar in the first leg of UEFA Conference League semifinals. The match will be played on Thursday, May 11th at London Stadium (London).
West Ham, under David Moyes, pleasantly surprised in previous seasons. Suddenly, this ambitious club started showing somewhat realistic chances to confirm their ambitions with their results. However, they never managed to reach the 4th place, even in 2021, and in the following campaign, they dropped to 7th place. Currently, in the Premier League, if The Hammers fought for anything, it was only for survival in the division. It was only thanks to a surge in April (10 points in 5 Premier League matches) that they managed to somewhat secure their position and avoid the threat of relegation to the Championship. It's possible that the experienced Scottish manager was saved by the decent performance in the Conference League. In that tournament, the English team, starting from the qualifiers last summer, consistently defeated all their opponents in every match until the quarter-finals, where they drew 1-1 against Gent. However, they managed to crush the Belgian team in the second leg at home.
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AZ Alkmaar are still more stable in terms of their performances compared to West Ham. They haven't reached the top tier of Dutch football, but they have won league titles and cups in their history. They also have experience in European competitions, including reaching the UEFA Cup final, although they lost. Last season, Pascal Jansen and his team finished in 5th place (by the way, they have definitely climbed at least one step higher now and won't allow Ajax and PSV to pull away, making an effort to climb even higher in the Eredivisie). That was enough to earn them a spot in the Conference League. The Dutch representative performed similarly to their upcoming British opponent. They also started from the summer qualifying rounds, then confidently progressed through the group stage with 5 wins in 6 matches. In the playoffs, AZ pleasantly surprised everyone by winning both matches 2-1 against Lazio. They faced difficulties only in the quarter-finals, losing 2-0 at home against Anderlecht. However, in Alkmaar, the top Dutch scorer, Pavlidis, responded with a brace, and they eventually defeated the Belgians in a penalty shootout.
West Ham rarely participated in European competitions before Moyes, and when they did, it was without much success or staying power. It's not surprising that they are crossing paths with The Cheese Farmers for the first time on the field. The Hammers have had a better statistical performance in the tournament and are playing on their home ground. We recommend betting that David Moyes' team will be able to win again.
Prediction for the match: West Ham to win.
