Backa Topola v West Ham: Hammers to be happy in Serbia

• West Ham won reverse 3-1

• Hammers need to win to boost chances of group win

• Kudus the key to Bet Builder

TSC v West Ham
Thursday 30 November, 17:45
Live on TNT Sports

TSC struggling to stay afloat

TSC Backa Topola are a curious team. They won 4-0 at Serbian league leaders Partizan at the weekend, a stunning result that strengthened their position in third place in the league. However, they are still well adrift of the top two, and in this competition they have looked out of their depth. TSC have conceded 13 goals across their four group-stage matches, and claimed a single point so far.

TSC are no stranger to wild games, especially on home soil. They recently beat Zeleznicar 6-3, and earlier in the season they drew 3-3 with Partizan. 12 of their 22 games have featured three goals or more, and 12 of the 22 have seen a Both Teams To Score bet land.

Zarko Lazetic's side can't qualify for the knockout rounds of this competition, but their European dream isn't quite dashed yet. It's possible for them to finish above Olympiakos in third spot, so they have motivation to potentially reach the knockout phase of the Europa Conference League, which would be an achievement for a side with very little European pedigree. After all, this is only Backa Topola's second continental campaign.

Milos Cvetkovic and Sasa Jovanovic are pushing for recalls, but don't expect too many changes from the side that won so impressively in the capital against Partizan.

Hammers can't afford to slip up

West Ham know that if they win this section, they will zoom straight to the last 16 and avoid a potentially tricky play-off against a Champions League drop-out in the last 32, but Freiburg are keeping them honest. Although the Hammers beat the German side in the Black Forest, SCF have won all of their other games, while West Ham lost in Greece against Olympiakos, so the top two are locked together on nine points. It's all set up for a Matchday Six showdown in East London in a couple of weeks.

West Ham therefore know they can't allow any lapses here, and David Moyes' men are at least in great form. They have won four of their last five games in all competitions, including an eye-catching 3-1 dismissal of Arsenal in the League Cup.

In the Premier League, West Ham have secured back-to-back wins against Nottingham Forest and Burnley, and away to the Clarets Mohammed Kudus was involved in two goals in the last five minutes as the Hammers turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win.

That win stopped a run of three straight away defeats, but it's been a mixed picture on the road, West Ham have racked up five away wins in all competitions, including excellent victories at Freiburg and Brighton. However, they were swept aside at Liverpool and Aston Villa, and suffered clumsy reverses at Brentford and Olympiakos.

Lukasz Fabianski is expected to return in goal, while Konstantinos Mavropanos is pushing for a recall in defence. Academy graduate Divin Mubama was a dangerous sub at Burnley, and may get the nod ahead of Danny Ings if Jarrod Bowen is once again injured.

Visitors to take lively win

West Ham have plenty of motivation to take the win here, and I would expect Moyes to field a strong side. The Hammers won the reverse fixture 3-1, and I think they can win again here against a TSC side that was shredded 5-0 in Freiburg last time out.

We can use the Sportsbook's Bet Builder to combine a West Ham win with Over 2.5 Goals and a Mohammed Kudus shot on target at 2.1411/10. Kudus scored in the reverse fixture. Across his time at Ajax and West Ham this season, the Ghanaian has had 14 shots on target across 19 games. He had five goal attempts against TSC at the London Stadium, two of which were on target. He has registered at least one effort on target in seven of his last 14 Hammers appearances.

As for the Over 2.5 Goals bet, that has paid out in all four of TSC's group games, and three of West Ham's four UEL outings. Overall, West Ham have seen an Over 2.5 Goals bet land in 14 of their 19 competitive matches this season.

Read Kev's preview of Liverpool v LASK here!