At 4:00 a.m. Beijing time on March 18, 2022, the second leg of the Europa League round of 16 knockout round is about to begin, when the "Hammers" West Ham United will face La Liga powerhouse Sevilla at home. West Ham United's performance in recent seasons is obvious to all, and the Hammers last season's ability to suppress Arsenal, Tottenham and other strong teams, it is not easy to qualify for European competition. And this season the team has also once ranked in the top 4 of the league, but with the deepening of the schedule, the team's state has been repeated, currently ranking 6th in the league with 48 points, from the standings, although there is a 3-point gap with Arsenal in the 4th place, but this is obtained in the case of more than 2 rounds, which shows that West Ham Is becoming more and more difficult to compete for 4.
West Ham United have been very jumpy recently, with unsatisfactory results on many fronts, being eliminated by Saints Southampton 3-1 in the FA Cup, stopping at lap 5, while in the Europa League, the first leg of the Round of 16 lost 0-1 away to their opponent Sevilla, losing the opportunity to advance. Fortunately, the team won 2-1 at home to Aston Villa in the last round of the league, ending the previous 3 consecutive defeats, allowing the team to return to the winning track and allowing the team to get a certain recovery in morale, but whether this state can continue to be maintained is indeed debatable.
Sevilla's performance this season has risen significantly, after 28 rounds of La Liga, the team ranks second in the league with 56 points, and there is a 10-point gap with the leader Real Madrid, and the chances of winning the title are slim, but it is worth noting that Real Betis, who are currently ahead of the 5th place (Europa League qualification area), has as many as 7 points, as long as the team can maintain the current state of point snatching, there is not much problem in getting next season's Champions League places. From the statistical point of view, Sevilla has scored 40 goals in 28 league rounds this season, conceded 19 goals, and has performed well in attack and defense, and the defensive end is currently the team with the fewest goals conceded in La Liga.
Sevilla have been in solid form recently, going unbeaten in four consecutive matches, including a 1-0 win over West Ham. The team played away to Vallecano in the last round of the league, with 57% possession, 3 shots on goal and 2 shots on target, the number of shots on goal was less than 1/3 of the opponent's, and in the case of falling behind, with Delaney's goal, finally shook hands with the opponent 1-1. It is worth noting that shortly after the start of the second half of the game, the team's coach Lopetegui replaced the main players Such as Munir and Torres, while the new signing Martial came on as a substitute, which shows that the physical fitness of the main players has been reasonably distributed.
The two teams are in different leagues, but in terms of the strength of the two sides, in fact, the gap is not large, West Ham United is the dark horse team that has risen in the Premier League in the past 2 years, and in terms of attacking ability, it is even better than some Premier League giants; and Sevilla, as a regular visitor to the Europa League, has extremely rich experience in The European Arena, has the title of "King of the Europa League", and the quality of the defensive end can never be underestimated. Judging from the current attitude of all parties, the performance is slightly ambiguous, in fact, this is not to blame, after all, the two sides are in different leagues, but as far as the current situation of the two sides is concerned, Sevilla seems to have a greater chance of promotion.