West Ham take on AZ Alkmaar on Thursday night for the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi final at the London Stadium.
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West Ham are back in in Europa Conference League action this week, taking part in their second European semi final in as many years, hoping to go one better than they managed last season.
The Hammers were defeated 3-1 over two legs in the semi final of the Europa League last season to eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt, preventing them from winning a first trophy since the FA Cup in 1980.
David Moyes’ side got back to winning ways on Sunday evening after three losses in a row, beating Champions League chasing Manchester United 1-0 at the London Stadium, taking the Irons up to 15th in the table.
The East London side are now seven points clear of the bottom three with four league matches still to play, all but securing their place in the Premier League next season.
Sunday’s win enables the Hammers to put full focus on Thursday’s semi final, as they look to win just a second European trophy in their history, 58 years after lifting the 1965 Cup Winners’ Cup.
West Ham’s opponents on Thursday will be the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, who currently sit fourth in the Eredivisie, just two points behind Ajax, with whom they drew 0-0 on Saturday night at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Managed by the London-born Pascal Jensen, AZ have won three of their last four games, including a dramatic penalty shoot out win over Anderlecht in last round of the Europa Conference League to book their ticket to the London Stadium on Thursday.
The match will be the Dutch side’s first European semi final since the they reached the last four of UEFA Cup in 2005, and have never won a major European competition before, though did reach the final of the same tournament in 1981 before losing to Ipswich.
The winner of the the tie over both legs of the semi final will play either Fiorentina in Basel in next month’s final in Prague, which would also guarantee a place in next season’s Europa League group stage.
West Ham and AZ have never met in competitive action before, but David Moyes has managed against them once in his career, winning 3-2 away while managing Everton in the group stage of the 2009 UEFA Cup.
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