West Ham vs Bayer Leverkusen Prediction & Betting Tips (18 April)

Last week, West Ham held off for a long time against an excellent Bayer Leverkusen team who have yet to experience defeat this season in all competitions. But like so many teams before it, this English team, which was clearly dominated in the game, ended up giving in at the end of the match by conceding 2 goals in the last 10 minutes 2-0. Consequently, she quite logically finds herself in difficulty before approaching this return match. Before this quarter-final, the Hammers had taken 1st place in their group ahead of Fribourg, Olympiakos and Backa Topola before dismissing Friborg again, in the 1/8 final this time. At the same time, the Londoners are in 8th position in the Premier League. They recently pocketed a valuable victory against Wolverhampton 10 days ago 1-2 but were dominated by Fulham last weekend 0-2.

For their part, Bayer Leverkusen was finally rewarded for their clear domination displayed at the to go with 2 goals scored at the end of the match 2-0 which will allow him to approach this return match with a lot of serenity. Still as strong in the game, the Germans completely stifled their opponent 73% of possession, 33 shots to only 1 for West Ham before making them wear out. It must be said that the Usine 11 is undoubtedly one of the best teams in Europe this year since it has still not lost a single match in all competitions. Launched into a series of 10 straight victories in the Bundesliga, Xabi Alonso's men won the first German championship title in their history by crushing Werder Bremen 5-0 on Sunday. At the same time, they are qualified for the German Cup final where they will challenge Fortuna Düsseldorf next month.

Absent during the first leg, the French goalkeeper Areola, who is the starter in the championship but a substitute in C3, will not be operational this week either, nor will the English international Kalvin Philips. His replacement Fabianski (starter in C3) delivered a good performance in the first leg without being able to preserve his team's draw. Top scorer Bowen (15 PL goals) is also on the flank at the moment, joined in the infirmary by substitute Earthy and defender Mavropanos. On the other hand, executive defensive midfielder Edson Alvarez will return after being suspended. The former Lyonnais Paqueta (4 goals and 6 assists in PL, 4 goals in C3) is also operational, as is the excellent striker Kudus (7 goals and 4 assists in PL, 5 goals in C3). The two men will be expected at a much better level than last week to hope to overthrow Bayer. In the absence of Bowen, the Jamaican Antonio should take his place at center forward.

Absent during the previous round, the serial scorer Boniface (11 goals in the Bundesliga) celebrated his return to competition by scoring his 5th goal in C3 and he also scored in the league this weekend. He imitated midfielder Hofmann (5 goals, 6 assists in the Bundesliga) who had opened the scoring a few minutes earlier. On the other hand, replacement striker Hlozek (2 goals) and midfielder Arthur will not make the trip to the Olympic Stadium in London. Unsurprisingly, Xabi Alonso should renew his confidence in the formidable full-backs Grimaldo (9 goals, 11 assists in the Bundesliga), and Frimpong (8 goals, 7 assists) and in the midfielders Xhaka and Wirtz (10 goals, 10 assists). The last city scored a hat-trick this weekend having only played the 2nd period. Center forward Patrick Schick (5 goals in the Bundesliga, 5 goals in C3) was the hero of the previous round by scoring 3 goals during the double confrontation against Qarabag.