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Sports Blog 18/08/2016: UEFA Europa League Qualifying Play-Off 1st Leg – Astra Giurgiu vs West Ham, Thursday 18th August 2016



Can West Ham put an iffy start to the season behind them when they travel to Astra Giurgiu, the side that knocked them out of the competition last year, for their Europa League qualifying play-off at 7.15pm on BT Sport 2?


Monday night’s game against Chelsea didn’t exactly go to plan for West Ham. With Eden Hazard scoring a penalty early in the 2nd half it took the Hammers 77 minutes to have a shot on target, James Collins’ strike drawing the sides level. Yet that didn’t last long, and 12 minutes later Diego Costa, who arguably should have been sent off earlier in the game, gave Antonio Conte his first league win at the helm of the Blues.

Astra Giurgiu West Ham Europa League Match Spreads 18th August Spreadex Sports Spread Betting

To make matters worse Andre Ayew, who signed from Swansea for a club record of £20 million, was take off with a thigh injury in the 35th minute, an injury that will likely see the winger out for 4 months. That puts extra pressure on the shoulders of the likes of Andy Carroll (at a Super Mega PGM of 30-36) and Enner Valencia (at 21-15), especially since Dimitri Payet has been left in London to work on his fitness post-Euros.

As for Astra Giurgiu, well, they will be feeling confident they can overturn West Ham in the same manner they did last season, where the they won the 3rd round qualifying fixture 4-3, a 2-2 draw at Upton Park followed by a 2-1 victory in Romania. This year Astra Giurgiu, who won the Romanian Liga 1 in 2015/16, found their way to this rematch against the Hammers thanks to a loss in their Champions League 3rd round qualifying tie against Copenhagen, the Danes winning 4-1 on aggregate. Domestically, meanwhile, Astra have had an awful start to their title defence, picking up only 4 points from their first 4 games thanks to a 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses.

Despite fluffing a few of their lines recently Slaven Bilic’s side shouldn’t have too many issues this Thursday, with our traders offering a West Ham/Astra Giurgiu (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.65-0.85 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.45-2.65. Though, of course, that is likely what was said last season, and we all know how that turned out.

 

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