AEK Larnaca vs West Ham United

AEK Arena is the venue as AEK Larnaca and West Ham United go head-to-head in the first leg of their Europa Conference League last-16 tie.

A 1-0 aggregate success over Ukrainian side Dnipro-1 in the Europa Conference League knockout playoffs helped AEK Larnaca make history by reaching a round of 16 of a major European competition for the first time. Excluding qualifiers, the Cypriot giants have assembled a club-record four-match undefeated run in European football (W1, D3), bolstering their hopes of upsetting the odds in their first-ever continental tie versus English opposition. Moreover, they’ve kept a clean sheet in their last two Europa Conference League outings and could make it three shutouts in a row for the first time in their European history. Indeed, they’ve been rock-solid on home turf lately, stringing together 12 competitive home matches without losing (W10, D2).

Despite being stuck only one point clear of the Premier League drop zone following last weekend’s dreadful 4-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion, West Ham United could still secure European football next season through the Europa Conference League. David Moyes’ men have qualified for the round of 16 as the only side in the competition to have won all six group fixtures, doing so by an aggregate score of 13-4. However, West Ham’s travels sickness that’s seen them go winless on their last four road trips (D1, L3) threatens to curtail their sublime continental form. To stop that from happening, the ‘Irons’ will rely on their decent record of only two defeats in their last 11 away European matches (W7, D2).