Lyon make wholesale changes

Lyon made SEVEN changes at the weekend as they prepared for their clash with West Ham in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final later this week.

The French club used the depth of their squad to rotate and were held to a 1-1 draw, with Karl Toko Ekambi scoring a 90th minute equaliser to rescue the game.

Lyon were hit with an injury blow during the game as goalkeeper Anthony Lopes hurt himself conceding the opening goal, and had to be substituted.

The French club also have the ability to make five substitutions in a league game, while the Irons can only make three in the Premier League.

Lyon used that to full effect, too, bringing off Mousa Dembele, Tete, Tanguy Ndombele and Houssem Aouar in addition to Lopes.

All four men are likely to be pivotal to their efforts to win the game on Thursday.

The Hammers, by comparison, made only two outfield changes, with Vlad Coufal and Manuel Lanzini coming into the team.

One has to think that, in a lot of ways, Lyon have a sudden advantage ahead of Thursday’s clash.