Alphonse Areola has namechecked a number of Lyon players to watch out for ahead of West Ham’s huge Europa League quarter-final with the French side.
Having overcome continental royalty in Sevilla in the round of 16, David Moyes welcomes the Ligue 1 outfit to the London Stadium for West Ham’s first European game at this stage since 1981.
While certainly impressive on their journey, there’s little getting away from the fact that not many of Moyes’ squad boast a huge amount of experience at such a high level.
Whether or not that ultimately makes a difference remains to be seen of course and Areola does at least offer that kind of nous.
Having come through the ranks with Paris Saint-Germain before joining Real Madrid on loan in 2019, the 29-year-old has lifted 13 trophies at club level and was part of the France squad who won the World Cup in 2018.
Expected to continue as West Ham’s first-choice in the Europa League against Lyon, Areola shared some insight into the kind of danger awaiting his side when speaking to the club’s official website.
“They have a few players that will be big for them in the quarter-finals,” he said.
“They have Anthony Lopes as goalkeeper and he is a big part of their success. I would also mention Lucas Paquetá, the playmaker, as someone we need to contain.
“But I think we need to focus on looking after ourselves and not worry about the opposition. Of course, we are watching clips of how they play and how they will attack us, but it’s more important that we focus on what we have to do.”
