West Ham vs. FCSB Betting Tips: Gianluca Scamacca tipped to continue fine form in Europe

After they disposed of Viborg in the play-offs, West Ham now get their Europa Conference League group-stage campaign underway on Thursday night against Romanian outfit FCSB, which is live on BT Sport 2 at 8pm...

Neither West Ham or FCSB have enjoyed the best of starts to their respective new domestic seasons. West Ham are located in the Premier League’s relegation zone following a return of one win and four points from their opening six matches. They’ve scored a joint-low three goals so far, although they have already faced the likes of Man City, Spurs, and Chelsea. However, in Europe they smashed Viborg 6-1 on aggregate, with new signing Gianluca Scamacca scoring in both games.

Thursday’s opponents FCSB are 13th in the 16-team Romanian league after winning only one of their opening seven games, although they do have a couple of games in hand on most teams. As for their early journey in the Europa Conference League, FCSB beat Saburtalo, Dunajska Streda, and Viking to book their spot in the group stages.

West Ham are the scorching hot favourites for this one at 2/9, visiting FCSB are as long as 14/1 to claim a surprise win, with a draw around the 6/1 mark. 

David Moyes could mix things up a bit, but he will be eager to get a decent result on the board in order to build confidence ahead of the weekend’s clash with Newcastle. West Ham may have suffered a sticky start domestically yet they will be expected to make it three wins in a row in Europe on Thursday against FCSB, and it’s no surprise to see them so short in the betting to open up with a win in Group B.

West Ham scored six goals across both legs against Viborg, including a 3-1 win away. We like the look of a repeat win and BTTS against FCSB with William Hill offering best odds of 11/5 for this bet to land. Moyes has plenty of attacking talent to mull over - including the likes of Michail Antonio, Maxwell Cornet, Lucas Paqueta, Jarrod Bowen, Gianluca Scamacca and Saïd Benrahma - and whatever combination the Scot opts for should produce goals.

As mentioned, FCSB haven't enjoyed the best of starts to the season but they have scored 10 goals in their last five games in Europe, while in the league they have scored and conceded in six of their seven matches. The visitors may be the underdogs on Thursday night but they will fancy their chances of finding the back of the net against a jittery West Ham defence which has conceded in six of their eight games so far this term, including all four home matches.

One angle we like for this one once again involves £35m summer signing Gianluca Scamacca. The former Sassuolo star, who bagged 16 Serie A goals last season, scored in both of West Ham’s play-off games against Viborg, meaning he now has five goals in his last five starts for West Ham and Sassuolo. The Italian international will surely be set for another European appearance on Thursday night, should he overcome a bout of illness: he’s been forced to miss the last two games due to a throat infection but has been spotted back in training. He's 21/20 (BetVictor) to score once again on Thursday, a bet we like the look of even if he settles for an appearance off the bench.

Should he start, I'll be upgrading this bet to Scamacca opening the scoring (15/4, UniBet) for the third time in a row in Europe this season. Here at BettingOdds my colleague Anton Eadson successfully tipped the striker to score first in their home clash against Viborg in the previous round - he then did the same in the return fixture - and we once again fancy the 6’5 forward to break the deadlock this time around against FCSB. Including the backend of last season for Sassuolo, Scamacca has opened the scoring in four of the last five games he’s started.