West Ham vs Anderlecht prediction: EUROPE: Europa Conference League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-12 19:00.
Three straight wins have given West Ham United a lift, although they were already off to a flyer in UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) Group B with a perfect record (W3). As a result, repeating last week’s 1-0 win over Anderlecht would guarantee their progress to at least the knockout round play-offs with two rounds to spare.
“We're still trying to improve a lot of things, but we're doing a lot of good things as well,” manager David Moyes said after Sunday’s 3-1 win over Fulham, their fourth consecutive match unbeaten at home (W3, D1). The Hammers didn’t strike until after the 25th minute in any of those games though, so one of the things to improve might be getting underway quicker.
Anderlecht got back to winning ways at the weekend by beating KV Mechelen 3-1 following two consecutive 1-0 defeats but they’re still mid-table in Belgium’s First Division A and with work to do to secure post-Christmas European football (W1, D1, L1). That’s mostly because they’ve scored just once during the UECL group stage, and even that came via an 81st minute penalty in their opening game.
That failure to penetrate defences doesn’t bode well, particularly given their dismal record in England, where they’ve never won a UEFA European away game (90 mins: D2, L14). However, they’ve only ever lost one UECL away fixture, keeping clean sheets in the remaining four games (W3, D1), so even if they aren’t particularly threatening, they should at least be hard to break down.
Players to watch: West Ham’s Gianluca Scamacca has netted in four of their last five games, with his team winning each time. Meanwhile, Anderlecht’s sole UECL scorer this term is Fábio Silva, who also completed the scoring after the 70th minute against Mechelen.
Hot stat: West Ham have won the last three games in which they conceded a first-half opener.