Total over 2.5
Total over 2.5
West Ham are on the brink of the Premier League relegation zone. After 26 rounds, the team is 17th in the table, ahead of Bournemouth in additional indicators.
The Hammers’ football is based on second number play (43.5% – third from the bottom) and explosive counter-attacks. In terms of the speed of the ball moving towards the opponent’s goal, only Leeds and Bournemouth are behind.
In terms of defense quality, West Ham ranks in the top five (xga = 1.21), but they do not always win the competition in the last period (xg = 1.29 – average level).
AEK is fighting for the highest places in its championships. The team successfully qualified for the second phase of the league – the championship, where it is in second place behind the leader APOEL with a loss of 3 points.
On the eve of this match, the “yellow-greens” lost to “Apollo” (0:1). In this match, they used their main team, so they have 1 day less to rest and prepare.
In the first meeting, AEK was worse both in terms of score (0:2) and game (xg: 0.8:1). The deciding factor was the class difference between the clubs. According to the global ranking, Opta is separated by 93 lines of rivals.
The handicap of the first leg will force AEK to shift the focus of the game to more aggressive actions on the opponent’s goal. Against West Ham, who specialize in counter-attacks, this is fraught with errors. I expect a more open match.