West Ham vs AZ Alkmaar Preview
West Ham United and AZ Alkmaar continue their bid to win the Europa Conference League on Thursday when they square off in the first leg of their semi-final tie.
At a time when West Ham sit in 15th position in the Premier League standings, AZ occupy fourth place in the Eredivisie, two points adrift of Ajax.
Having recently suffered three straight defeats in the Premier League, David Moyes has come back under pressure at West Ham, yet the Scot restocked his credit in the bank at the weekend.
The Hammers posted a deserved 1-0 victory over Manchester United to move seven points clear of the relegation zone with three matches remaining, likely ensuring their survival in the top flight.
West Ham have also suffered just four defeats in 14 matches in all competitions, helped by extending their undefeated streak in Europe to 12 fixtures.
Gent pushed West Ham hard in the quarter-finals, leading 2-1 on aggregate at one stage before their opponents surged back, and such a comeback highlighted that Moyes possesses the strongest squad in the competition.
However, West Ham will need to have learned lessons from this time last year when they under-performed and lost out to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League semi-finals.