West Ham United will be looking to making it two wins from two in Group B of the Europa Conference League on Thursday night when they take on Danish side Silkeborg.
For David Moyes’ side, a trip to Denmark is not something unusual for this current squad, having won away at Viborg 19 days ago to qualify for the group stage of the competition, although this next trip to Denmark will propose the Hammers with a different challenge than what they are used to.
Silkeborg, who currently sit third in the Danish Superliga table after beating Aarhus Gymnastikforening 1-0 on Sunday, have an artificial at their JYSK Park home stadium.
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Known as an MX Ultimate and developed by a company called GreenFields, the pitch is made up of low filled artificial grass, with the fast type of artificial grass used by West Ham’s Danish opponents only being approved by FIFA at the end of June this year.
Given the history in football of links between artificial pitches and injuries, Hammers boss Moyes is undoubtedly bound to have concerns over the playing surface, especially with a squad that could already have five players missing the game through injury.
Speaking on the surface shortly after its installation, Silkeborg boss Kent Nielsen said: “ "It's a nice carpet, but fast, the players could tell. It needs to be played to.”
Silkeborg go into the game against the Hammers third in Group B, having suffered a 1-0 defeat to Belgian side Anderlecht in their opening group stage match last week.
West Ham meanwhile currently top the group after the opening round of fixtures following a 3-1 win over Romanian side FCSB at the London Stadium, despite being 1-0 down at half-time.
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