West Ham on brink of breaking English unbeaten record in Europe

David Moyes can overtake two managerial greats if West Ham avoid defeat at SC Freiburg in the Europa League today.

The Hammers would reach a notable milestone by making it 17 consecutive European matches unbeaten, a record for an English team, on the back of their Europa Conference League triumph last season.

That would take them one clear of the records set by Don Revie's Leeds in the 1960s and Bill Nicholson’s 1970s Tottenham side.

"I didn’t know that. Not bad names then, are they?" said Moyes. "People who know football will tell you they were two incredibly gifted managers over a long period in English football.

"It would be a great achievement if we can do that. Let’s hope we can keep it going. We’ve done well in Europe over the last couple of seasons. We want to try to continue that."

Moyes will be without striker Michail Antonio, who has a tight adductor muscle which could also rule him out against Newcastle on Sunday, so Danny Ings is set to start in what is likely to be West Ham’s toughest outing in Group A.

"We’re playing a really good team who have had excellent success in the Bundesliga and did really well in Europe last year as well," added Moyes.

"From maybe not being the biggest name in Germany they’ve certainly grown and got themselves in a really good position."

There will be no away fans at the Europa Park Stadion due to a UEFA ban following incidents during June’s final in Prague.

German defender Thilo Kehrer said: "Not having our fans is unfortunate, they give us a big boost, but we have to be professionals and adapt.

"We all played during the pandemic, during games when no supporters were here, so we know we have to get the job done."

Freiburg lie eighth in the Bundesliga and beat Olympiakos 3-2 in Athens in