AEK Larnaca welcome West Ham to AEK Arena in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie in 2022-23 UEFA Europa League.
AEK Larnaca overcame Dnipro-1 in their Knockout Play-Off to qualify for this stage, whilst West Ham had received a bye through to this round after topping their group in the Group Stage.
Team News
Angel Garcia and Pere Pons (pictured) are both suspended for AEK Larnaca after the pair picked up their third bookings of the campaign in their final group match, back in November 2022.
Bruno Gama (Achilles), Artem Gromov and Milos Gordic (both unspecified) remain absent.
West Ham could welcome defender, Thilo Keher back into contention, after he missed their domestic loss at Brighton last weekend due to illness.
Vladimir Coufal (heel), Angelo Ogbonna (knee), Michail Antonio (hamstring) and Maxwel Cornet (fitness) could also feature, although Cornet won’t be immediately rushed back into the line-up.
Goalkeeper, Lukasz Fabianski (eye/cheekbone) remains absent.
When is Kick-Off?
AEK Larnaca host West Ham at AEK Arena in a
Stat Attack
- This is AEK Larnaca’s first-ever meeting against West Ham.
- West Ham are visiting AEK Larnaca for the very first time and will mark the first time that the Hammers face Cypriot opposition in any competition.
- AEK Larnaca are facing English opposition for the first time in all UEFA competitions.
- AEK Larnaca has scored in each of their last ten home games in all UEFA competitions (W5, D3, L2).
- Gianluca Scamacca has scored in two of West Ham’s three away matches in this competition this season (W3).
Prediction
Although not much is known about AEK Larnaca which means that this will be a journey into the unknown for West Ham, the Hammers better be aware of the Cypriot team’s strong goalscoring form at home in UEFA competitions.
Larnaca though have been inconsistent in recent weeks and don’t exactly boast any stand-out threats, yet have managed to score in most UEFA matches this season so I suspect that West Ham might just need to be wary at the back.
David Moyes’ Hammers though will be relieved to be back in European action after their domestic struggles over winter, in which they’ve lacked consistency and come into this game off the back of two away losses in which their defence has been outclassed.
This match therefore is the perfect chance for West Ham to reset in a competition where they dominated their group without dropping any points, yet another deep European adventure can’t afford to come at the expense of their domestic top-flight status come May.
At the same time, this competition feels very winnable for the Hammers and I do expect them to come out fighting for the win, although their defence will need a better grip on oppositional intensity than they had in their defeat at Brighton.
Prediction: AEK Larnaca 1-2 West Ham
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