West Ham United vs Bayer Leverkusen Predictions

• Bayer Leverkusen are still unbeaten after 43 all-competition games this term, winning 38 in that run
• West Ham have won just two of their last ten home matches, losing 2-0 to Fulham last time out at London Stadium
• The Hammers have lost 11 of the 17 Premier League matches they have played without Lucas Paqueta since his arrival

Leverkusen likely to cruise again

A 2-0 deficit is hard to overturn against any side, let alone the newly crowned Bundesliga champions who extended their unbeaten run to 43 games with a 5-0 crushing of Werder Bremen on Sunday.

Xabi Alonso’s side hold all the cards coming into this second leg having won 2-0 last week and they displayed just how strong they are when dispatching the Hammers in Leverkusen, racking up 33 shots to the visitors’ measly one.

With such a comfortable lead Bayer Leverkusen can look to force West Ham out of their comfort zone and allow their hosts to have the ball, stifling their usual counter-attacking style in the process.

Bayer have won seven of their last eight away games and the word unstoppable comes to mind when talking about Alonso’s side – it is hard to see David Moyes’ having the masterplan to stop the Leverkusen express.

Injury-hit Hammers heading for the exit

Perhaps it would be easier to have more faith in the Scot if he had a full squad available for this second leg, but that luxury has not been presented to Moyes.

Alphonse Areola is a big miss in goal and West Ham’s usually sharp counter attacks looked pretty blunt without Jarrod Bowen in Leverkusen, and both remain doubts for this second leg.

While the 2-0 result at the BayArena against such a strong side was far from a disaster, losing Lucas Paqueta and Emerson for this second leg after their bookings in Leverkusen certainly was.

The Hammers have lost 11 of the 17 Premier League matches they have played without Paqueta since his arrival, highlighting his importance to the side, while Aaron Cresswell lacks the pace of Emerson and he could be exposed by the visitors’ plethora of speedy wide players – perhaps most notably Jeremie Frimpong.

Without Bowen’s pace and Paqueta’s creativity, it is difficult to see the Hammers overturning the two-goal deficit to win this tie, and their desire to score combined with a spate of absentees could leave them exposed at the back, potentially leading to a 39th win of the season for Leverkusen.