Arsenal legend Ray Parlour has backed West Ham to reach their second European final in a row.

The Hammers beat Freiburg 2-0 on Thursday evening to top their group and ensure their passage through to the last 16 of the Europa League. After winning the Conference League last season, Parlour said he wouldn’t bet against David Moyes’ side going all the way again:

“If they can go on a run, they’ll be hopeful they can get to that final again because they’ve already had a taste of the Europa Conference League final which was a great campaign for the West Ham fans.”

“I know a lot of the West Ham fans, they travelled in force around Europe to watch their team and managed to get the job done and win the tournament and they’ll want a bit more of that.”

“That was a big result last night and obviously we want to see as many English clubs involved in the competition as possible.”

Three other British clubs have joined West Ham in the last 16

Liverpool, Brighton and Rangers also finished top of their Europa League groups so all three will avoid the playoff round, along with Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal and Slavia Prague.

The playoff round will consist of the teams who finished second in their groups as well as those who have dropped down from the Champions League.

West Ham could face some big names in the next round

In addition to those already mentioned, the Irons may end up being drawn against the likes of AC Milan, Roma, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon or Shakhtar Donetsk if those teams make it through the playoffs.

Topping the group gives David Moyes‘ side the additional benefit of having to play two fewer games, with their next fixtures in the competition taking place in early March.