Freiburg vs West Ham prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-10-04 16:45.
The two opening matchday winners from a highly competitive looking UEFA Europa League (UEL) Group A will battle it out for early supremacy when Freiburg welcome West Ham United, with this being the first time that the Europa-Park Stadium has hosted English opposition. The German side had to take the lead three times before securing their 3-2 win over Olympiacos last round, while West Ham were forced to recover from a goal down to beat BaÄŤka Topola.
Freiburg have since tightened things up at the back, going on to keep consecutive clean sheets in their ensuing Bundesliga matches (W1, D1). A good defensive effort will be exactly what’s needed again here if they’re to extend their unbeaten streak in UEL group stage games to eight (W5, D2) as manager Christian Streich will want to put an early stamp on another table-topping campaign after last season's achievements in which they went unbeaten in the group stage (W4, D2).
The experience of participating in back-to-back European campaigns for the first time should pay dividends for Freiburg, but West Ham can raise that feat with this being their third consecutive European group stage appearance, also a club first. Their title-winning run in the UEFA Europa Conference League last season will still be bolstering the confidence, with the victory over BaÄŤka Topola incredibly being their 15th win in their last 16 European outings (D1).
The Irons are therefore in red hot continental form at the moment, and winning their last two matches on the domestic circuit will have kept momentum going. It seems there’s no better time for David Moyes’ side to travel to Germany for a fifth time then, as they go in search of their first win on German soil (D1, L3).
Players to watch: Freiburg’s Vincenzo Grifo will be out to prove he’s the danger man as eight of his last 11 club goals have come at home. West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse will be looking to upstage him however, as despite going dry in his last two matches, he’s registered seven goal contributions in his last seven games (G2, A5).
Hot stat: Both teams have scored in ten of West Ham’s last 12 matches.