This is the fifth time West Ham have trailed by 2+ goals going into the second leg of a two-legged knockout tie in all European competitions; they managed to progress from the first two (v ADO Den Haag in the 1975-76 Cup Winners’ Cup & Real Madrid Castilla in the 1980-81 Cup Winners’ Cup) but were eliminated from the most recent two (v Dinamo Tbilisi in the 1980-81 Cup Winners’ Cup and v FCSB in the 1999-00 UEFA Cup).

Bayer Leverkusen have progressed from all 13 previous occasions they have won the first leg of a two-legged European knockout tie by 2+ goals (incl. qualifiers).

West Ham have won three of their last four home games against German opposition (L1), already beating SC Freiburg twice in the UEFA Europa League this season (2-0 group stage, 5-0 round of 16).

Bayer Leverkusen have only won one of their 10 away games against English sides in all competitions (D2 L7), though this win did come in their last visit to the capital against Tottenham in November 2016 (1-0).

West Ham have won each of their last 11 home games in European competitions (incl. qualifiers), seven of which were by a margin of 2+ goals, which they require to avoid elimination in this tie against Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten in 10 UEFA Europa League matches (W8 D2); in major European competitions, only from September 1986 to April 1988 have they ever gone longer without defeat (14, all in the UEFA Cup).

In the first leg, Bayer Leverkusen recorded 33 shots while West Ham had just one; since the UEFA Europa League began in 2009, this is the biggest ever difference in shots (32) between two sides in a match against one another in the competition.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz (25) and West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse (22) are two of the top three players for most chances created in the 2023-24 UEFA Europa League. Indeed, Wirtz has created 83 chances in the competition in his career, at least 22 more than any other player since his debut in August 2020.