West Ham are to face Backa Topola tonight in the Europa League knowing a win will secure our place in the knockout stages of the competition.
David Moyes’ side are currently top of Group A on 9 points from the 4 matches played thus far, with the hosts in bottom place having only gained a point in the group stages of the competition ahead of the match later.
The Hammers boss has already confirmed the absense of Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio tonight, and this has provided Divin Mubuma the chance to impress the manager and provide further evidence that he is ready for more first team football.
Moyes has admitted that it is once again a challenge for West Ham to juggle a busy schedule due to European football – and he is expecting a tough test in cold conditions tonight in Serbia.
“It’s been very difficult over two years trying to juggle the European games with the Premier League games [when it comes to team selection] but for most of it we’ve done quite well, reaching one semi-final and one final, so we’ll try and do much the same,” Moyes told the clubs Official Website.
“It’s difficult and the group we’re in this season is a very hard group and that means it’s hard to make too many changes for European matches.
“We’ve been doing well in Europe over the last couple of years.
“We had a record when we went unbeaten, our first defeat [of this campaign] was at Olympiacos a few weeks ago [on matchday three], so I’m hoping we can continue our really good form in Europe.”