The East End Loves The Europa League!

West Ham United vs Lyon

Two teams dreaming of Euro glory are set to meet in East London and France over the next nine days and both have a spring in their step.

For not only did West Ham and Lyon top their Europa League groups in the autumn, they have just come off the back of impressively knocking out former winners of the competition in the last 16.

Throw into the mix a potential cracker of a tie awaiting in the semi-finals (against tournament favourites Barcelona or Eintracht Frankfurt) and here are two sides daring to dream, my two teams to watch all primed to deliver Europa League highlights.

Talking Points

West Ham start as favourites after staging an eye-catching comeback triumph against the competition’s serial winners Sevilla.

After a 1-0 reverse in southern Spain, David Moyes’ men prevailed 2-0 after extra time in the home second leg in what was arguably the best atmosphere since they moved to their new stadium in 2016.

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Furthermore, it ended Sevilla’s dreams of playing in a home final in May.

Lyon, meanwhile, cruised through their group, finishing eight points clear of runners-up Rangers, and in the last round Peter Bosz’s side saw off 2011 winners Porto, a 1-0 win in Portugal preceding a 1-1 draw in France.

Their main danger man could well be Toko Ekambi (if fit) who is the joint top scorer in this season’s competition with six goals so far, all of which he struck in the group stage.

Don’t be distracted by their far from convincing domestic position as Lyon have pedigree in Europe as English clubs have discovered.

They may only lie ninth in Ligue 1 but in Ekambi, Moussa Dembele, Lucas Paqueta and Houssem Aouar they have players who can make quite an impact, as shown when they slew the dragons of Porto last month.

Ekambi, who has scored 23 times in 66 appearances for Les Gones, is an injury doubt however, alongside midfielder Maxence Caqueret. Bosz also remains without Lenny Pintor, Rayan Cherki and Sinaly Diomande for the long-term.

Karl Toko Ekamb and Lyon beat FC Porto 1-0 at the Estadio Dragao in the round of 16 first leg of the Europa League — Lyon’s Karl Toko Ekambi tackles Porto’s Joao Mario during the Europa League round of 16 second leg match

Pablo Fornals, one of the unsung heroes in the Hammers’ progress, says the squad is 100 per cent in good shape and ready to create another chapter in the club’s history, and certainly they seemed in decent form as they saw off 10-man Everton on Sunday.

Manuel Lanzini is suspended for the first leg and Moyes is also sweating over the fitness of right-back Ben Johnson, who missed the Everton win due to a minor hamstring problem and will need assessing.

Vladimir Coufal and Ryan Fredericks set to start at right-back if Johnson does not make it, while the likelihood is Alphonse Areola, the regular Europa League goalkeeper, will start again.

Across the Channel, Lyon edged a five-goal thriller 3-2 at home against Angers on Sunday, twice throwing away the lead in a topsy turvy game with Dembele – who was such a hit in Scotland with Celtic – netting twice.

The French club has also taken advantage of a FIFA loophole window to sign the talented Brazilian Tete from Ukraine club Shakhtar Donetsk.

Premier League clubs could have used the window to sign players but agreed it would impact the integrity of the competition and put the block on it in England.

With UEFA amending their rules, and the player signed before the special April 1 cut-off, it means he will be permitted to face West Ham.

What price him having an impact on this tie?

History

This will be the first time that West Ham United and Olympique Lyonnais have locked horns in Europe.

The Hammers’ one previous experience of French opposition in UEFA competition came against Metz in one of the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals, when they lost the first leg at home before winning 3-1 away for an overall 3-2 aggregate success.