WE CAN PASS X FACTOR AUDITION

Alonso’s Invincibles are unbeaten in 41 games but Zouma says: We can be the ones to change that

@Mikewaltersmgm

KURT ZOUMA says West Ham will take on Bayer Leverkusen’s Invincibles “full of belief” they can inflict the runaway Bundesliga leaders’ first defeat of the season tomorrow night.

The Hammers skipper dreams of lifting the Europa League trophy in Dublin next month and he is sure that David Moyes’ side have the quality to do it.

Leverkusen are unbeaten in 41 games in all competitions this season and manager Xabi Alonso (top right) has turned down approaches from Liverpool and Bayern Munich to stay at the Bayarena next season.

But Zouma (right, with the Europa Conference League trophy last season) insists West Ham will approach their third

European quarter-final in as many campaigns with the same conviction that saw off Lyon in 2022 and Gent 12 months ago.

The France defender said: “Getting my hands on the trophy and lifting it would be awesome.

“Just winning a trophy was amazing. We did that last year and now we want more because we just want to win as many games as possible and keep making our fans happy.

“Being West Ham captain is a huge honour.

It’s the first time I’ve taken on a role like that at a big club and leading the team out of the tunnel in big Premier League and European games is an incredible feeling.

“We know it’s going to be very tough, but that would have been the case against any of the teams we could have drawn at this stage of the competition.

“We know Leverkusen haven’t lost for a long time now, but it’s up to us to be the team to change that.

“We need to beat the best if we want to get through and go all the way, and that’s what we’ll be trying to do. We won the

Conference League last year and we got to the Europa League semi-finals the season before, so we have a lot of experience and belief.

“We know what we’re capable of and we’ll go to Leverkusen full of belief.”

But Hammers’ hopes of pulling off a Euro shock were dealt a big blow when top scorer Jarrod Bowen was ruled out of tomorrow’s clash against Leverkusen.

The England man hurt his hip in a clash with Wolves’ Mario Lemina during the 2-1 win on Saturday.

The prolific hitman, with 19 goals in all competitions this season, was forced off early in the second half (above) and will not make the trip to Germany.