Gabby Agbonlahor: West Ham will be ‘devastated’ if they lose v Lyon in Europa League
Gabby Agbonlahor believes West Ham hold a strong chance of winning the Europa League as a whole, as well as tonight’s second leg against Lyon.
The Hammers play out the conclusion of their quarter-final tie tonight in France after a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium, with Agbonlahor arguing that they should be going there with the confidence of progressing to the last four.
Aston Villa’s all-time top scorer suggested that the London club have the right sort of characters in the dressing room for success and that the resilience they showed after being reduced to 10 men in the first leg sets them up well for this reverse clash.
“Devastated… if they don’t go through tonight, I feel like Lyon were okay they had 10 men for a long time in the game West Ham and still dug in,” Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT, as shown in a video clip on the radio station’s Twitter account today [14 April].
“They’ve got some leaders in that team and I think they’ll be disappointed if they don’t win tonight. You look at whose left… they could win it (the Europa League).”
Big Chance
Whilst Agbonlahor is probably right about tonight’s fixture, it might be a little premature to suggest West Ham can win the whole thing.
Lyon didn’t capitalise on the Irons being down to 10 men for the entirety of the second half in the first encounter and that should give David Moyes and his men confidence of playing the game on their own terms in France tonight.
With Barcelona the most likely opponents in the semi-finals though if West Ham progress it will be a tall order for them to win the whole competition, despite the massive strides which have been made on the pitch in the last couple of seasons.
The Catalan giants seem to finally be getting their act together under legendary ex-midfielder Xavi, and themselves are looking to claim victory from their tie poised at 1-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt.
That said there’s always a chance in knockout football, and with a streetwise manager such as Moyes in charge, the Hammers may yet have a huge celebration to come when May arrives.
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie says West Ham should avoid going for this pricey forward.
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