West HamSevillaEuropa League

West Ham - Sevilla is one of the pairs that arouse the greatest interest in the round of 16 of the Europa League. The English teams rarely congratulate themselves on a good final ranking in the second strongest European club tournament, which may be due to its secondary role in their plans. However, Spanish clubs are the ones who most often lift the trophy, and Sevilla is the ruler of this tournament.

Undoubtedly, Sevilla was the better team a week ago at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. The Spaniards had control of the match and made 22 shots on goal. Only six of them were accurate, but that of Munir El Hadadi in the 60th minute turned into a winning goal for a fragile but very valuable lead of 1: 0. In England, however, West Ham is the favorite, and during the season we have repeatedly witnessed how Sevilla does not win on foreign soil.

The loss to the Hammers a week ago was the third in a row of all tournaments. However, the end of this negative series came on Sunday, when they defeated Aston Villa at home with a score of 2: 1. He left West Ham in sixth place and just three in the top four. Sevilla took another wrong step in the pursuit of Real Madrid. The Andalusians have become the first team to fail to win against Rayo Vallecano in six La Liga games. The points were divided at 1: 1.

In my analysis of the previous match, I mentioned that the home factor will be key in the rivalry. In the autumn, West Ham beat Genk and Rapid Vienna in London to zero, and in a match they lost to Dinamo Zagreb. The question of Sevilla's shootout in the group stage of the Champions League has been raised many times. In their favorite tournament, however, the Spaniards beat the Croatian champions 3-1 at home, and the minimal defeat in Zagreb did not prove fatal.

West Ham are the fourth best hosts in England, ahead of teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham. On the other hand, we have a team that has been unsuccessful for seven consecutive visits, and in the Spanish elite won only 33% of the matches. Undoubtedly, Sevilla is a better and more experienced team, but some personnel problems and poor performances as a guest can be disastrous today. I expect cautious actions and overtime from both teams, which will lead to a new match with a small number of goals.