Anything other than a Dinamo Zagreb win will seal West Ham’s place in Europa League last 16 regardless of what happens in Vienna.
The Hammers travelled to Austria yesterday ahead of this evening’s Group H match against Rapid Wien.
West Ham beat the Vienna side 2-0 in the reverse fixture.
But Moyes will want West Ham to get the job done in Austria and effectively earn the club a four-month break from European matches as the last 16 does not start up again until March.
That would offer Moyes and his squad some welcome respite.
Moyes knows a win for his side in the behind-closed-doors match will seal top spot in Group H and with it a place in the last 16.
Anything other than a Dinamo Zagreb win will seal West Ham’s place in Europa League last 16 regardless of what happens in Vienna
A point may even be enough. Indeed West Ham could lose their remaining two games and still finish top of the group.
Because the state of play going into this evening’s game is effectively that anything other than a Dinamo Zagreb win over Genk and West Ham are guaranteed top spot and that coveted place in the last 16 of the competition.
If Zagreb fail to beat Genk the best they can do is match West Ham’s 10 points – which would also require the Croats to beat the Hammers at the London Stadium in the final group game.
But even then they would have to make up five goals too.
Genk meanwhile have to win both their remaining games just to match West Ham’s 10 points. And they would have to turn around a 12 goal deficit in the process.
West Ham’s opponents Rapid Wien can only hope to finish second and would require two huge wins to even stand a chance.
In short it seems a case of when and not if West Ham are confirmed as Group H winners with anything but a Dinamo win later doing the job for them.
Moyes’s side of course have things in their own hands and know a win would be good to restore confidence after the Wolves defeat as well as sealing their own destiny with a game to spare.
