Romanian champions Astra will attempt to claim the scalp of Premier League high flyers West Ham and reach the Europa League group stages after failing to make it to Champions League play-offs.

The Hammers will be looking to make amends for the last-gasp defeat to Chelsea with Slaven Bilic widely expected to rotate his squad.

Astra Giurgiu did well to end Steaua’s domestic domination by lifting the league trophy last season, but they have since experienced plenty of problems.

Their wealthy owner is now in jail, and the financial difficulty is seriously affecting the squad at the moment, with quite a few important players leaving.

Key men William, Rick Boldrin, Mariius Gaman, Gabriel Enache and Constantin Budescu have all left the club, while no serious replacements have been signed.

Therefore, nobody was surprised to see Astra suffer a 4-1 aggregate defeat to FC Copenhagen in the Champions League third qualifying phase.

And having also lost two of first four league fixtures, the Romanian champions clearly have little to hope for ahead of the visit of West Ham.

Denis Alibec and Alexandru Dandea continue to miss out through injury, but there have been no fresh selection worries for the hosts.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Lung – Sapunaru, Alves, Fabricio, Junior – Boldrin, Lovin – Boudjemaa, Teixeira, Stan – Niculae.

Since Slaven Bilic took over the reigns, West Ham have quickly closed the gap behind England’s top sides and many believe they can challenge for a top 4 finish this term.

The Hammers are also on the verge of reaching Europa League group stages although they suffered a scare in the previous stage, losing the first leg to Domzale.

However, the 3-0 triumph in the return leg proved enough to set up the clash with Astra Giurgiu, with the Hammers now 1.75 (3/4) to win in Romania.

West Ham did not have the best of starts to the new Premier League campaign as they were beaten by local rivals Chelsea, with Diego Costa scoring the winner after he should have been sent off for a foul on Adrian Martinez.

Summer recruit Andre Ayew suffered a thigh injury in the process, meaning he is unavailable for the Astra game, but Dimitri Payet could start as he slowly builds match fitness.

New signing Arthur Masuaku will continue at left-back seeing that first choice Aaron Cresswell is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Randolph – Byram, Oxford, Ogbonna, Masuaku – Obiang, Nordtveit, Noble – Feghouli, Carroll, Payet.