West Ham must stop Sevilla doing this to have Europa League chance
West Ham United are in Seville ready for their Europa League round of 16 tie against La Liga Santander side Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
David Moyes’ Hammers topped their group with five wins from a possible six while the Spanish outfit ended up in the competition having been knocked out of the Champions League.
Sevilla beat Dinamo Zagreb over two legs to make it to this stage of the competition and the six-time winners of the Europa League will be very keen to go on and make it seven come May.
The Irons have other ideas however and will be ready for whatever Julen Lopetegui might throw at them.
There are though things that West Ham must be wary of if they are to stop the Rojiblancos from taking control of the contest.
Something they found great success in against the Croatian champions was utilising the runs of striker Anthony Martial to open up space for other players.
Above, you can see how the Frenchman darts into the channel, dragging a defender with him and therefore opening up space for the onrushing midfielder to stride into.
Martial was actually given the ball from this situation and they went on to win a penalty but on another day, the midfielder collects the ball and scores with no problem.
The turnover is something else Moyes and the Irons’ defence will have to be aware of as the Spaniards like to throw numbers forward when a counter-attack is possible.
Here, against Zagreb again, you can see six white shirts have bombed forward to create a nightmarish overload for the opposition defenders and they eventually find a path to goal via Martial.
It’s not all a defensive worry for West Ham though as Sevilla have weaknesses of their own at the back.
In the return leg against Dinamo Zagreb, you can see a very narrow trio that includes two central defenders and a right-back while the left-back is pulled away from the rigid backline.
If the Hammers can exploit this effectively through the likes of Pablo Fornals and Manuel Lanzini, they could be out of sight themselves by the time the second leg rolls around next week.
In other West Ham news, there is both good and bad injury news regarding two of the Irons’ star players.
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