WEST HAM UNITED embark on another European adventure with a home match against FCSB in the Europa Conference League on Thursday night.
After enjoying a remarkable run to last season's Europa League semi-finals, the Hammers will be keen to make their mark in Europe's third tier competition.
David Moyes' men earned a second successive season in the main stages of European football with a 6-1 aggregate win over Viborg, with the second leg of that playoff qualifier bringing up both of my plays.
While West Ham have won just one of their opening six Premier League games of the season, they can count themselves unlucky not to have a bigger points haul so far following their controversial 2-1 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday.
FCSB, meanwhile, will be making their maiden appearance in the Europa Conference League after falling short at the preliminary round last season.
The Bucharest outfit should give a good account of themselves, but getting out of this group will be a tall order, given that they have been paired alongside West Ham and Anderlecht.
Outright Betting
Despite winning just two of their last five European home matches, West Ham open their Group B campaign as short-priced 1/5 (Bet 365) favourites.
FCSB unsurprisingly arrive in the English capital as 14/1 (William Hill) underdogs while the draw is also deemed unlikely at 6/1 with Bet 365.
Betting Angles
You won't get rich backing West Ham at the aforementioned price, so I'll get creative and head to the Bet Builder market and merge West Ham to win, under five match goals and over three West Ham corners at 4/5 (Bet 365).
David Moyes is expected to ring the changes as he looks to juggle Thursday and Sunday football, however the Hammers boss has strength in depth to his squad now following a summer of significant investment.
As such, the home team can afford to rotate their resources without substantially weakening their side, and that was evident when the East Londoners made light work of Viborg in the playoff round.
Not only did that pair of victories feature fewer than five match goals, but each of West Ham's four Europa League group stage wins last year generated under five match strikes.
With that in mind, I'm happy to combine a home win and under five match goals, but to conclude the selection, I'll also throw over three West Ham corners into the mix.
The Hammers conformably covered the 4+ flag kick line in each of their six pool fixtures last season and I see no reason to oppose a repeat here given that they should dictate the tempo of the game.
I'll also be waiting to see who leads the line for West Ham and if Gianluca Scamacca gets the nod then I'll back him to grab a goal at 21/20 with Ladbrokes.
The Italian striker struck in each of the Hammers' two victories over Viborg and he could get more joy in front of goal here against a similar standard of opposition.
This UEFA Europa League Conference match between West Ham United and FCSB will be played on Sep 8, 2022 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best West Ham United vs FCSB prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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