West Ham United will travel to Belgium this weekend Gent this Thursday evening with the Hammers facing arguably their toughest test in the Europa Conference League this season with a trip to the Belgian Pro League giants.
Gent are not at their best this season in Belgium but still come into this one in fourth on the domestic front and with a decent run of form in Europe too. They did finish top of the table last season, but in 2022/23, they are still in relatively solid form coming into this Europa Conference League battle.
Gent met with the Europa League high-flyers Union Saint-Gilloise last weekend and drew 1-1 thanks to another goal from Hugo Cypers, as his penalty cancelled out the away side's early goal.
The defending champions of the Belgian Pro League would hammer RFC Seraing 5-0 in the outing before that, as Gift Orban and Cuypers scored a brace each with a goal in either half, as Jordan Torunarigha scored late on after 10 shots on target from a total of 18 efforts.
West Ham will come into this match with a win that sent them straight back into the win column just one week on from their worst loss of the season when Newcastle United smashed them 5-1. The Hammers defeated Fulham at Craven Cottage in another London derby, as an own goal from Harrison Reed sealed all three points in a 1-0 win.
David Moyes guided his side to a victory in all their games from the group stages of the Europa Conference League that saw the Hammers score 18 goals and let in only four. In this time, they managed to beat Anderlecht, FCSB and Silkeborg with West Ham now one of the favourites to win the trophy, despite such poor form in England.
In fact, West Ham still sit 14th in the Premier League side but they also went on to get another Europa Conference League victory in the round of 16 by beating AEK Larnaca 2-0 away from home and 4-0 back at the London Stadium.
