After a disappointing 16th placed finish in the Premier League in the 19/20 season, West Ham has seen only an upward curve in the last couple of seasons.
A 6th placed finish last time around is the reason the London club is playing in the Europa League. This time around the story is no different.
The Hammers are 5th on the table and ambitions of playing Europe even the next season, still strong in their hearts.
After becoming the West Ham manager in December of 2019, David Moyes has done a wonderful job at the club. He has completely changed the fortunes, which he materialized by some key signing and tactics.
We all know about West Ham’s fruitful exploits in the Premier League so far.
But, let’s shift our focus to the Europa League campaign the Hammers have had so far, and derive who could they possibly face in the round of 16 ties as the draw approaches closer.
The Campaign so far…
The last time West Ham played in the Europa League was in the 2016/17 season courtesy of Manchester United winning 2-1 in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace. This result made sure that their 7th place finish, proved enough to qualify.
And after 4 years of absence, West Ham is back in the Europa League this season.
They were drawn in Group H this time around with the likes of Dinamo Zagreb, Rapid Wein, and the Belgium club Genk.
West Ham after 6 intense match days won the group by finishing on top of it. they won 4, drew once, and lost once.
They scored 11 goals and had an impressive GD of 8 and in this process, they obtained 13 points.
As a result of finishing top of the group, West Ham directly qualified for the Round of 16 ties.
Eligibility and the process
The eight UEFA Europa League group winners – West Ham United, Lyon, Monaco, Spartak Moscow, Eintracht Frankfurt, Galatasaray, FK Crvena Zvezda, and Bayer Leverkusen – are awaiting the eight winners from the play-off round.
The play-off round comprises the eight teams who finished third in their respective UEFA Champions League groups facing the eight who finished second in their UEFA Europa League groups.
The winners of this round will play against the group winners in the Round of 16.
Dates and time
The round of 16 will be played over two legs, with West Ham traveling away as a seeded club for the first leg on Thursday 10 March, and then hosting the second leg at London Stadium on Thursday 17 March.
The draw for the round of 16 will take place on Friday, February 25, at 11 a.m. UK time.
Clubs from the same national association cannot be drawn against each other in the Europa League, but with no other English clubs still in the competition, West Ham United might meet any of the eight knockouts round play-off winners!
