Thursday Football Tips: Scamacca to strike for West Ham

Viborg v West Ham
Thursday 25 August
18:00 BST kick-off

With no points and no goals so far, it's a tough start for David Moyes as he takes his struggling West Ham to Denmark to face Viborg in their Europa Conference League tie.

A 3-1 lead means it should be a comfortable enough progression for the Hammers, but even this early in the season Thursday night football is causing a few headaches for Moyes.

He badly needs a result in the league with a huge game at Aston Villa on Sunday, but he also knows suffering a shock exit here would also pile on the pressure.

So expect a similar starting XI to the first leg including summer signing Gianluca Scamacca, who scored after just 23 minutes of his first start for the club in the first leg.

Maxwell Cornet and Manuel Lanzini will likely provide more attacking intent but Moyes may well opt to rest Jarrod Bowen with Sunday's Villa game being closely followed by another massive game against Spurs three days later,

The same goes for Michail Antonio, who like Bowen I'd steer away from in the betting unless they're named in the starting XI.

Viborg are big outsiders of course, but they are strong at home - winning their last six and going 11 unbeaten on their own patch.

West Ham can lose here and go through, but Moyes will want a performance, and a result that can boost confidence ahead of a crucial league spell.

You'd expect the Hammers to have too much quality, but Viborg matched them at times in London and a draw wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine.

The Hammers should score though, and Scamacca is the man you want to back to get a goal.

With this, we're also going to back over 10.5 corners at a reasonable 23/20 - with 11 being taken in the first leg I expect the teams to match that in Denmark.

Regardless of how the game goes, Viborg will always attack and while that will give them chances of getting corners, West Ham on the break will also have plenty.