West Ham vs. Lyon 4/7/22 UEFA Europa League Soccer Pick, Predictions, and Odds

West Ham is hosting Lyon at London Stadium in the first leg of the quarterfinals in the UEFA Europa League. West Ham is playing well right now, but they are not scoring goals as easily as they used to, and that could be a problem. Lyon is also struggling with scoring goals, they have sold some players in January, but they have been successful so far in the Europa League.

West Ham has won 3 of their last 4 games, while their only loss during this streak was against Tottenham. In their last game, West Ham has defeated Everton. Probably the most impressive win for West Ham was against Sevilla in the previous round of the Europa League. Benrahma is the leading goalscorer for West Ham with 3 goals in the Europa League so far, while Yarmolenko and Rice have added 2 goals each. Antonio and Cresswell have added 2 assists each. West Ham is a really good team who is in 6^th place in the EPL right now, but they are still fighting for that 4^th place, for which the competition is really strong this season. There are no notable injuries in West Ham, but Lanzini is suspended because of the yellow cards.

Lyon is very far away from the top in Ligue 1, in 9^th place with 45 points. Offensively, Lyon was doing well, but they haven’t been scoring a lot lately. Overall, Lyon has scored 43 goals so far this season, while their defense hasn’t been that good with 39 conceded goals. The good news for Lyon is they are undefeated in their last 3 games, but I think they got really lucky against Porto in the previous stage, and they will need the same luck in this game against West Ham as well. Ekambi has scored 6 goals for Lyon so far this season, while Slimani added 3 goals, but he is no longer with the club. Guimaraes has added 2 assists, but he is also no longer with the club. Unless they win the Europa League this season, Lyon will be taking a break from the European competitions next season, and that might be best for them.

This is the first matchup ever between these two teams as well. I think West Ham is the better team here, and they will have the home-field advantage, but Lyon could be a threat here. I will take West Ham at home.