West Ham vs. Freiburg preview: Team news and predicted lineups

Here is our preview of Thursday’s Europa League round of 16 second leg clash between West Ham and Freiburg, including predicted lineups.

SC Freiburg will be determined to protect their 1-0 lead from the first leg when they travel to London to take on West Ham in the second leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday night.

But as Freiburg coach Christian Streich insists, the narrow advantage won’t make his team change their approach.

“At 1-0, the situation isn’t much different. It’s all about what we do on the pitch, how brave we are and what options we give our players with the ball at their feet,” he said at his pre-match press conference.

Should Freiburg advance, it will be their first appearance in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

“We know we can achieve something big. But we don’t want to think and talk about that too much in advance, we want to concentrate on the task ahead of us tomorrow,” said midfielder Maximilian Eggestein, who sat next to Streich.

In terms of form, Freiburg followed up their win over West Ham with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Bochum.

West Ham, meanwhile, were 2-0 down at half-time against Burnley, but showed real spirit to fight back and earn a 2-2 draw.

On the injury front, Maxwel Cornet is out for West Ham, while Edmerson is a doubt. In addition to the long-term absentees, Freiburg will be without Noah WEisshaupt.

Click here to see our predicted West Ham vs. Freiburg lineups.

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