West Ham vs Olympiacos Piraeus prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-11-08 20:00.
UEFA Europa League (UEL) Group A enters matchday four with things fascinatingly poised for a photo finish, as West Ham United sit top on six points, tied with Freiburg, in large part thanks to their win in Germany. Upcoming opponents Olympiacos meanwhile are third, a mere two points behind, thanks to their 2-1 triumph when these two sides met in Greece during the last round of fixtures.
That result blew the group wide open as David Moyes’ men had been in firm control before that defeat, which ended last season’s UEFA Europa Conference League champions’ 17-game unbeaten streak in Europe (W16, D1), a record for an English side. That run is in part due to some strong form at the London Stadium, where West Ham have been victorious in 11 of their last 14 continental contests (D1, L2), underlining that they are well capable of reversing that result in Piraeus and putting one foot in the UEL knockout phase.
But while the Irons’ European home record will boost their confidence, having won just one of their last six outings in all competitions (D1, L4) will put the home faithful on edge. Olympiacos' contribution to one of those losses ended what was an 11-match winless run for Thursday’s visitors in the UEL proper (D3, L8), and they’ll now go in search of consecutive group-stage wins in the competition for the first time since September 2021.
Doing so would upset not only the bookmakers, but the history books too, since the Greeks have only won three of their previous 19 trips to England (D1, L15). They haven’t been on the winning side much on their recent continental travels as a whole, but have simultaneously proved extremely hard to beat by drawing seven of their last nine European away encounters (W1, L1).
Players to watch: Mohammed Kudus is loving life in London, having scored five goals for West Ham already, with four of them both coming at home and in the second half. Equally enjoying his football is Olympiacos captain Konstantinos Fortounis, who has 13 goal contributions (G5, A8) in 15 club games this term, while conversely, all but one of those five goals netted came before the break.
Hot streak: Every UEL Group A fixture this season has seen both teams score on the day.