KRC Genk Match Preview
West Ham United are now five games unbeaten in all competitions after ending October with an emphatic 4-1 win at Aston Villa last Sunday. David Moyes will look to carry that form into the start of November when the Hammers travel to Belgium tonight, as they look to confirm qualification from UEFA Europa League Group H with victory over KRC Genk tonight.
Moyes has seen his side win all of the games in the group stage so far and he is hoping that they can carry that momentum on, as he looks for another victory in what will be his 1000th game of his managerial career.
The hosts on the other hand, will be looking for revenge as they suffered a 3-0 defeat in Stratford exactly a fortnight ago.
If the Irons were to achieve consecutive wins against KRC Genk then, depending on the result in the other tie between GNK Dinamo Zagreb and SK Rapid Vienna, the East Londoners could cement their place at the next stage of the competition here.
Most of the players that started in the Carabao Cup against Manchester City which the Hammers won via a penalty shootout will get another chance to stake their claim for a possible regular place in the Premier League side as Alphonse Areola, Andriy Yarmolenko, Nikola Vlašić, Manuel Lanzini, Arthur Masuaku, Issa Diop and Mark Noble are all set to be named in the matchday squad.
Noble will be named Captain if Moyes decides not to include Declan Rice in the starting line-up.
Ben Johnson scored against the Villains four days ago and will be desperate to start again here. He may however face a fight to keep his place, as Vladimír Coufal is pushing to start his first game since the 2-1 home defeat to Brentford on October 3, though the Scotsman may decide to give the Czech extra time to recover ahead of Sunday’s home game against Liverpool with the same going for Michail Antonio.
Alex Král has only started one game since arriving in East London in the summer transfer window and he could be in for his second start here, while youngster Dan Chesters featured in the closing stages of the reverse fixture and may play some part in this game.
The match kicks off at 5:45pm and live coverage is being screened by BT Sport from 5:15pm. The referee is Alexander Standev.