West Ham v Bayer Leverkusen Betting Tips [18 April 2024]

West Ham United have all to do to save their Europa League campaign when they welcome German champions Bayer Leverkusen. Going into this quarter final return leg, West Ham trail 2-0 from the opening fixture. The English side held off for the better part of the first leg, despite being dominated, only to concede two late goals. It hasn’t been a great run for them, the last few weeks. In their run-up to this game, they were hammered 2-0 at home by Fulham, slowing their quest for European football. This competition remains a strong avenue for European football, but they have a massive challenge ahead of them. The Hammers’ only win in their last six matches was 2-1 against Wolves, and even that came courtesy of late goals. David Moyes’ charges have lost three of their last five matches, conceding at least twice in each of those losses. Some reprieve will come in the sense that their last home win in this competition was against a German side, Freiburg. Taking on Leverkusen is however a different kind of challenge. Four wins in four home Europa League matches should come with the needed motivation for such a game though.

Bayer Leverkusen come into this game with a new feather to their cap; they are the new Bundesliga champions. For the Germans, the chase is on for two more titles and this is one of them – the Europa League. They are coming from a 5-0 win over Werder Bremen, which confirmed their status as German champions. That was also their fourth straight clean sheet and eighth straight win. Leverkusen can only hope their celebrations after winning the league title didn’t hamper preparations for this game. However with a 2-0 lead coming here, and being one of the most solid teams around, they have room to stretch their legs. In the first leg, they needed late goals from Jonas Hoffman and Victor Boniface to see off West Ham. Leverkusen have failed to win in just one Europa League game this season out of the nine they played. That was the last time they traveled in the competition, playing to a 2-2 draw with Qarabag. In all but one of the nine Europa League matches, they scored at least two goals.

Bayer Leverkusen have everything going for them ahead of this game. They find West Ham in poor shape and the Germans will be here as favorites. West Ham United have been poor defensively and will not want to face this Leverkusen side in that form. Their poor run in attack is also a concern, having failed to score in two straight matches. Our prediction for West Ham United v Bayer Leverkusen is for Bayer Leverkusen to win.