WEST Ham's Europa League run continues when they face Romanian side Astra Giurgiu. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) takes a look at the odds.
West Ham v Astra Giurgiu | Thursday 19:45
West Ham's Europa League experience so far has been pretty dismal. Drawn against two minnows they've huffed and puffed and almost got knocked out in the previous round.
Armenian side Lusitanos were beaten 3-0 at Upton Park and the Hammers followed that up with a 1-0 win on foreign soil. Not exactly inspiring when the layers had framed them to win by around five goals in their home leg alone.
If that was unfulfilling then things got worse in the next round against Maltese side Birkirkara. Another 1-0 win in their home leg infuriated punters who lumped on a strong West Ham performance but what followed a week on was a disgrace. Chalked up around the 4/7 mark, Slaven Bilic's side lost in Malta 1-0 and needed penalties to knock out a side who were hammered 6-2 on aggregate by Diosgyor in last year's competition.
So now their task gets stiffer still as Astra Giurgiu roll into town. Astra knocked out Inverness in the previous round and are a much more experienced European side than West Ham.
The Romanian's reached the group stage of this competition last year after knocking out Lyon and Slovan Liberec and in the groups they beat Dinamo Zagreb and drew with Celtic. Decent form that.
They're already three games into their domestic season and won at the weekend so you would think they'll a wee bit more sharper than their English opponents.
At 4/7 there's no way I can be with West Ham. I've already had my fingers burnt investing too much faith in them in the previous rounds so I'll swerve that. Instead I'll side with low goals in this match and back Under 2.5 Goals at 3/4 with BetVictor.
Best Bets
West Ham v Astra Giurgiu – Under 2.5 Goals (3/4 BetVictor)
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