West Ham matched Freiburg for both shots mustered and xG accrued in last week’s first leg, so the Irons were right to feel aggrieved after their narrow loss, especially having been denied a penalty for what looked like a clear handball from Noah Weißhaupt.

That was the Irons’ first defeat in three previous meetings with Freiburg this season, indeed, West Ham won both encounters with the Bundesliga outfit in the Europa League Group Stage before Christmas, and the Londoners could be worth backing to succeed again on Thursday.

West Ham hold a 100% winning record on home soil in the UEL so far this term, while Freiburg, who are notoriously poor travellers, failed to win six of their last seven away assignments on the road in all competitions.

Freiburg’s knack for dropping the ball on their travels means they are worth opposing here, however, they have scored in two previous sittings against West Ham this season and they could be worth a consolation goal on Wednesday.

The Germans failed to register when they last visited the London Stadium, however, they outperformed West Ham in terms of shots (12-8) and shots on target (4-3). The host’s Łukasz Fabiański was the busier keeper in terms of saves that evening, so expect Freiburg to threaten again and both teams to score in the second leg.

West Ham star Jarrod Bowen was a constant menace in last week’s first leg and despite his failure to convert a chance, the 27-year-old clocked four attempts at the Europa-Park Stadion, two of which hit the target.

Bowen’s searing pace and the superb timing of his runs had the Freiburg backline in a panic on numerous occasions in Germany and the wide attacker could trouble the same defenders just as much on Thursday. Bowen is favoured to land at least two shots on target again here.

West Ham’s Greek centre-half Konstantinos Mavropanos was also a real handful from set pieces a week ago and Bowen was the only Irons player to rack up more attempts than the defender in Freiburg. Mavropanos had three efforts at gaol last week and he could be an excellent addition to coupons in the 1+ shots stakes again on Thursday.

For Freiburg, Austrian Michael Gregoritsch, who scored the first leg’s winning goal off the bench, is available at a tempting price to lodge at least one accurate attempt again. The 29-year-old followed up last week’s winner by burying the crucial goal in Freiburg’s Bundesliga win over Bochum at the weekend, so he should have sufficient confidence to make another telling impact.

West Ham failed to win a single corner kick when they hosted and beat Freiburg 2-0 in the Europa League Group Stage at the London Stadium on December 14th, and remarkably, that was the first and only time this season where the Irons failed to win a corner in a fixture.

As anomalous as that statistic feels, West Ham managed to win the corner battle just once in three previous meetings with Freiburg this season, so it makes more sense to look to the Germans for options in the markets here.

All three previous tussles between the familiar antagonists were low on corners, producing just eight, three and seven of them across West Ham and Freiburg’s trio of Europa League skirmishes this term, though the Breisgau-Brasilianer did win four corners on two separate occasions against the Hammers.

Beating a 3.5 corner target for the third time in four head-to-heads with the Londoners looks both achievable and backable at a strong price here, with West Ham’s options in the market not to our taste.

West Ham’s three meetings with Freiburg this season have all been relatively even-tempered. Their first encounter on October 5th produced just two cards, while their last meeting in London didn’t feature even a single caution for either side.

Last week, three bookings were issued before the hour, however, tempers never threatened to spill over and bettors should expect another low card count in Thursday’s fourth and final date between the clubs in 2023/24.

Instead, the foul market could be a more fertile hunting ground and Mexican Edson Alvarez stands out there as an obvious candidate to sin at least once. The 26-year-old West Ham anchorman started each of the Irons’ three previous meetings with Freiburg this season and committed at least one foul on each occasion, so expect more of the same from the tough tackler.

Freiburg fullback Kiliann Sildillia fouled once and was cautioned in last week’s first leg and the 21-year-old Frenchman gave away two free kicks when he completed 90 minutes against West Ham at the London Stadium in December. Often impetuous in his tackles, Sildillia can be backed with confidence to foul at least once again this week.

Elsewhere, the terrier-like Ritsu Doan, who has an exceptional work ethic, also looks like a smart pick-up in the 1+ fouls department this week. The Japanese international posted game-high five and six tackle figures in Freiburg’s last two meetings with West Ham, and the 25-year-old has fouled at least once in nine of his last 12 appearances in all competitions.