Slaven Bilic: Why West Ham will play it safe at Tottenham

West Ham United have enjoyed a stunning start to their Premier League campaign under manager Slaven Bilic and unlikely as it may have sounded before the start of the season, the Hammers certainly look like outside contenders to finish in one of the Champions League places. It’s a cliche that every game is for three points, but there are a few games that are more special to the fans and they are derby games and this one is definitely one of them. We were without him since Astra and he came on against Everton and was really good. “It’s a question mark to me as well…now we have a lot of quality players and the players who are going to play have to share it a little bit – they have to step up and do more for us”.

However, for former Besiktas manager Bilic it will be a chance for other players to shine before Payet regains full fitness.

Spurs (fifth) and West Ham (sixth) are level on points, with Tottenham ahead on goal difference. The South Korean will replace the suspended Erik Lamela.

His absence should pave the way for Son Heung-min to start for the first time in nearly two months, but Nabil Bentaleb is unlikely to be ready to return after he picked up a knock on global duty with Algeria.

White Hart Lane has also proved a happy hunting ground of late, with a resounding 3-0 victory in 2013-14 nearly followed up with another triumph last term before Harry Kane’s stoppage-time penalty salvaged a 2-2 draw for the hosts. With arrogance comes embarrassment, but it’s hard to look past a comfortable win especially as we are playing home and we can use this to our advantage and get the win.

“That’s why we are buying these types of players because they’re lifting the whole team”.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have not lost in the league since the opening day, when they went down 1-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford, courtesy of Kyle Walker’s own-goal.

“In my apartment, we are all West Ham”. “It would be fantastic if we could qualify for Europe next season”. It was no surprise when Tottenham’s interest in midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate towards the end of this summer’s transfer window was quickly rebuffed by West Ham.

He returned in October against Watford but suffered another ankle injury after coming on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw with Everton prior to the worldwide break.