West Ham United taunted in ‘Mickey Mouse Cup’ prediction – Gabby Agbonlahor
West Ham United will host Anderlecht in the Europa Conference League on Thursday (13 October) with qualification on their radar.
Victory for the Hammes at the London Stadium will be enough to secure their passage through to the knockout rounds of the competition with two games to spare in the group stage.
David Moyes’ side went to Belgium seven days prior and beat the Belgian giants 1-0 courtesy of a moment of brilliance from Lucas Paqueta to set up Gianluca Scamacca.
talkSPORT pundit Gabby Agbonlahor, though, is not convinced that the Hammers will make it four wins from four in his European predictions.
“So in the Mickey Mouse Cup, West Ham are playing Anderlecht,” Agbonlahor said. “Anderlecht are a big team to be playing in the Mickey Mouse Cup.
“I’m going to go with a 1-1 draw because Anderlecht always produce good players.”
Win and be done
Such has been the fast start to the continental competition by West Ham, victory against Anderlecht should be enough for them to put their feet up and coast through their final two matches without worrying about the result.
There is a mathematical chance that they could secure top spot at the London Stadium too which would also mean they don’t need to play the playoff round against a side from the Europa League as second in each group will have to.
Moyes will surely make some rotation choices with the team he selects given the buffer his side has in the group table but he could also field a strong side to ensure the job gets done without any hiccups at the first time of asking.
West Ham travel to Southampton on Sunday (16 October) looking to keep their forward momentum in the Premier League on track and therefore might need to rest certain individuals for that game but the squad is big enough to cope.