LONDON – West Ham United moved closer to the UEFA Europa League knockout stage as goals from Craig Dawson, Issa Diop and Jarrod Bowen secured a 3-0 home win over Belgium’s Genk and continued their perfect start in Group H.
West Ham tops the standings on nine points ahead of Dinamo Zagreb, Rapid Vienna and Genk who have three each, after the London side kept a third successive clean sheet in Europe’s second-tier competition.
Dawson fired West Ham ahead with a looping header on the stroke of halftime and Diop made it 2-0 from a second assist by Aaron Cresswell before Bowen added the third with a deflected shot on the hour.
Napoli kept alive their hopes of advancing from Group C after Lorenzo Insigne, Victor Osimhen and Matteo Politano secured a 3-0 home win over Legia Warsaw, Reuters reported.
Legia stayed top with six points from three games while Napoli and Leicester City, who enjoyed a rollercoaster 4-3 win at Spartak Moscow on Wednesday, have four each. Fourth-placed Spartak have three points.
Insigne fired Napoli ahead in the 75th minute with a superb first-time shot before in-form Osimhen netted his ninth goal of the season in all competitions and Politano sealed the win with a long-range strike.
Olympique Lyonnais maintained their perfect start in Group A as they overturned a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 win at Sparta Prague, who took a 2-0 lead thanks to a first-half brace from Lukas Haraslin.
Lyon hit back as Karl Toko Ekambi scored twice while Houssem Aouar and Lucas Paqueta added one each before Ladislav Krejci pulled one back in stoppage time.
Lyon stayed top on nine points ahead of Sparta on four and Rangers, who have three after beating Brondby 2-0 at home thanks to first-half goals from Leon Balgoun and Kemar Roofe.
In Group D, Eintracht Frankfurt leapt into pole position on seven points, one ahead of Olympiakos after a 3-1 home win over the Greek side.
Both teams are well-placed to progress as third-placed Fenerbahce have two points and Royal Antwerp one after their 2-2 draw.
Monaco went top of Group B on seven points from three games with a 2-1 win at PSV Eindhoven and Real Sociedad is two points behind after a 1-0 victory at Sturm Graz.
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