Our West Ham v Freiburg first scorer prediction sees us pick out five likely candidates to open the scoring in Thursday evening's UEFA Europa League clash, and note the corresponding odds from betting markets of them doing so.
Freiburg are leading 1-0 going into the second leg at the London Stadium, and so West Ham will need to start quickly in order to turn the round of 16 tie around. The Hammers feature in our Europa League finalists betting piece, where we state the odds of them facing Liverpool or Brighton in an all-English final, but they will have to beat Freiburg to stand a chance.
West Ham v Freiburg first scorer prediction – Our picks
Jarrod Bowen (West Ham) – 5/1
Bowen is unsurprisingly the favourite with betting markets to open the scoring. He is West Ham's top scorer this season, with an impressive 14 goals in the Premier League. However, he is yet to score in the Europa League, and will be determined to put that right.
Bowen has been first goalscorer on six occasions already this season, and so looks a safe bet with West Ham looking for a fast start.
Mohammed Kudus (West Ham) – 7/1
Kudus is West Ham's joint-highest scorer in the Europa League with three goals, and so will be a threat against Freiburg. He is also only behind Bowen in the squad for Premier League goals with six, so looks to be a decent option in the betting market.
Kudus has been first goalscorer three times in a Hammers shirt this season, including in this same fixture in the group stage, and so should be confident he can repeat the same trick on Thursday.
Michael Gregoritsch (Freiburg) – 11/1
The man who scored first and what turned out to be the winner in the first leg, Gregoritsch could well upset the apple cart again in London. That was his fifth Europa League goal this season, the most in the Freiburg squad.
He also boasts five Bundesliga goals, and five strikes as first goalscorer. If the visitors score, it will likely be Gregoritsch.
Vincenzo Grifo (Freiburg) – 11/1
Grifo is another dangerous player that West Ham will have to tame to give them the best chance of going through. He is Freiburg's joint-second highest Europa League scorer with four goals, and is also their joint-highest scorer in the Bundesliga with seven strikes.
Only two of Grifo's goals have been as first goalscorer, but it is worth noting he is Freiburg's penalty taker, and so if West Ham are sloppy defensively, he is likely to punish.
Lucas Paqueta (West Ham) – 12/1
Paqueta is our final pick in this list, given his goal to get West Ham back into the game against Burnley over the weekend. home side. That was his third Premier League goal this season, while he also boasts three Europa League goals.
Only Kudus can match him in the squad in this regard, while his three strikes as first goalscorer from midfield is equally as impressive. One of those came against Freiburg in the group stage too, so we would not back against him to do the same on Thursday.
