Key events
1 min And away we go!
â¦and here come the teams!
Our players are tunnelledâ¦
As for Leverkusen, theyâll fancy themselves to stretch the pitch, forcing West Hamâs back four to cover the width of it, thereby creating space for Wirtz. Theyâll also reckon Soucek not to have the mobility to keep up with them, which will leave Ãlvarez with a lot of work to do.
Where is the game? I canât lie, if I was a West Ham fan Iâd have wanted the Moyesiah to be a little more bullish rather than extol the quality of their opponents. But theyâre a live dog here, and will be looking to Cresswell and Ward-Prowse to deliver quality into the box, with Bowen and Kudus seeking the spaces between the Leverkusen centre-backs and full-backs. I daresay Moyes will also wants Soucek running off Xhaka, but if Leverkusen dominate possession this all becomes much harder. So Iâd expect the Irons to try and play their way into the game â Iâm no sure about that, as I wonder if their best hope is to get after it early â then commit more men forward as things develop.
I just saw someone in the crowd wearing the West Ham Dagenham Motors kit from the 90s. My school didnât do sport properly â inner London comp, nae grounds â but we played one game, and somehow, our teacher turned up with 11 West Ham Dagenham Motors kits. You can imagine how that went down. Iâm afraid the film right to this epic tale have already been optioned.
David Moyes tells TNT that itâs a big task but West Ham will approach it in the right way. They wonât open up immediately â ha, who thought they would? â but will want to put more pressure on âa really supreme opponentâ than they did last week.
Otherwise, Mavrapanos has an injury to the sole of his foot but he hopes Bowen can make a difference and notes that this is his sideâs third quarter in three years and they won the first two.
Matthew Matty Cash has equalised for Villa in Lille; itâs 3-3 on aggregate so theyâre playing extra time.
All that, 20 minutes before the teams come out? That is one confident manager.
Asked about Florian Wirtz, he rhapsodises âa special playerâ, saying they need to get him on the ball in the right positions. He makes runs that canât be taught, in the pocket and between the lines, is really good at making the right pass at the right moment, to the millimetre, and theyâve been pushing him this season to crave more goals.
More Alonso: against a low block â which they faced against West Ham last week â the centre-backs are important and their rest defence needs to be good so they can counter-press effectively. They donât want to face many transitions, but theyâve had enough time during the year to work on that kind of thing and now itâs an automatism.
Alonso speaks! Sunday, when they won the league for the first time ever, was âvery specialâ but from Tuesday they focused on whatâs a big task tonight. West Ham are a âvery intense teamâ, Bowen is back, and they hammered Freiburg. But the plan isnât to nurse the lead, rather to play football and try and win the game.
Asked specifically about Bowen, he compliments his energy and quality, saying heâs âone of the top playersâ, then asked about his style, he says itâs mainly down to having good players. itâs not really about the tactics, rather about the principles â they can switch formations and theyâre not a soft team.
I wonder why Alonso has made those changes. Frimpong certainly seemed to celebrate well the other day but I imagine the rotation is because heâs got the Cup, Europe and the unbeaten record to defend so, with a 2-0 lead, this is a decent time to make changes â especially given the quality of his squad. On which point, Iâm really looking forward to seeing who arrives in the summer, because one big sale plus Champions League money equals decent scope in the market.
The return of Jarrod Bowen is a massive boon for West Ham. Obviously he scores goals, but more than that, heâs stepped up a level this season â this isnât a run of form º and his teammates know they can rely on him.
Elsewhere: in the Conference, Lille lead Villa 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate with 10 minutes to go.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, make changes from the first leg too. Out go Edmund Tapsoba, Jeremie Frimpong and Amine Adli, with Piero Hincapié, Odilon Kossounou and Nathan Tella coming on. They too change from 3-4-2-1 to 4-2-3-1.
West Ham are without Lucas Paquetá, whoâs suspended â thatâs a massive miss â but his replacement is Edson Ãlvarez, who was suspended for the first leg. Otherwise, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Emerson, also suspended, drop out, with Nayef Aguerd and Jarrod Bowen coming in. As a consequence, thereâs also a formation-change, from 3-4-2-1 to 4-2-3-1 or, as Uefa have it, 4-3-3.
Iâll write those down, then weâll wonder what they might mena.
Teams!
West Ham United (4-2-3-1): Fabianski; Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell; Ward-Prowse, Alvarez; Kudus, Soucek, Bowen; Antonio. Subs: Anang, Knightbridge, Johnson, Cornet, Ings, Ogbonna, Casey, Mubama, Swyer, Orford.
Bayer Leverkusen (4-2-3-1): Kovar; Stanisic, Tah, Kossounou, Hincapie; Xhaka, Palacios; Tella, Wirtz, Grimaldo; Schick. Subs: Hradecky, Lomb, Hofmann, Andrich, Tapsoba, Arthur, Adli, Boniface, Frimpong, Puerta, Izekor.
Also for youâ¦
Preamble
Bundesliga champions, DFB-Pokal finalists and an overall record of Played 43 Won 38 Drawn 5 Lost 0; somehow, Xabi Alonso has magicked Neverkusen into Everkusen and his squad stand on the cusp of one of footballâs all-time great seasons.
In a sense theyâve already started next term too, retaining the services of their manager despite stiff competition for them. So, with that decided and the pressure of a title race converted into ecstatic relief, they arrive in London looking and feeling impregnable.
Not so fast. While itâs true that Victor Bonifaceâs injury-time goal which turned 1-0 into 2-0 seemed like the decisive moment of this tie, West Ham have won every European home game across the last two seasons and, like almost every Premier League side, have the artillery to hurt any opponent â if they can get enough of the ball.
Which is a big âifâ, granted, but Leverkusen will only progress if theyâre able to contain Jarrod Bowen, Michail Antonio and Mohammed Kudus â while dealing with West Hamâs threat at set-pieces, and that too is a not insubstantial âifâ. Chances are they find a way because thatâs what they do, but if theyâre still celebrating their weekend triumph and even if theyâre not, tonight will be a serious challenge.
Kick-off: 8pm BST