A big development in Sevilla’s season could be seriously bad news for West Ham and David Moyes will be well aware.
West Ham face one of their biggest games in recent history when Sevilla come to the London Stadium for their Europa League last 16 second leg clash.
The tie is delicately poised. West Ham must overturn a 1-0 deficit in order to advance to the quarter-finals where they would be hard pressed to draw anyone as difficult as their Spanish opponents.
As West Ham fans know only too well by now, Sevilla are six-time winners of this competition so their pedigree is there for all to see.
When the draw was made it was a daunting prospect. But there was real hope for West Ham in the fact Sevilla had bigger priorities than the Europa League.
The Spaniards were in the thick of a battle with Real Madrid for the La Liga title.
But a big Sevilla development could be seriously bad news for West Ham and Moyes will be well aware.
Because that title challenge has faded with a string of lacklustre draws and Madrid have put what looks an unassailable 10-point gap between themselves and West Ham’s opponents.
Sevilla, though, are more or less all but assured one of the coveted Champions League spots with a seven-point cushion and look odds on to finish second.
While West Ham were beating in-form Aston Villa 2-1 at the weekend, Sevilla’s title challenge was killed off with a 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano as Real beat Mallorca 3-0.
On the face of it West Ham fans may have been pleased to see another underwhelming result for Thursday night’s visitors to the London Stadium.
But now the Europa League is very much Sevilla’s main priority and sole focus.
It is their only chance of silverware this season and suddenly the Europa League has gone from something of a side story to their La Liga title drive to the main event.
There is some pressure on Sevilla as favourites. And there has been an element of criticism of manager Julen Lopetegui in Spain amid the faltering title challenge.
But they have had such a good season domestically that there is plenty of credit in the bank with fans.
The big Sevilla development looks to be seriously bad news for West Ham. But Moyes will be well aware and his comments in the build-up to the game – about Sevilla trying every trick in the book in order to win the tie – reflect that.
Let’s just hope West Ham can upset the applecart and become the first English side to beat Sevilla in European competition.
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