Football - West Ham v Everton preview
West Ham v Everton preview
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has urged his side to end their poor recent record against Everton when his former club visit the Boleyn Ground on Saturday.
Bilic spent three years as a player at Goodison Park and is tasked this weekend with securing West Ham's first Barclays Premier League win over Everton since 2007. Despite defeat to Watford last time out, victory on Saturday could see West Ham go into the international break in the top four, with Bilic challenging his players to end their Everton hoodoo.
"Everton are a great side, a big club with good players,” Bilic said. “It's a great test for us and I am looking forward to it, definitely yes. "It must be eight years or so [since West Ham beat Everton]. It shows how difficult Saturday's game will be. It's a bit of a surprise to me but it doesn't worry me too much because those games are in the past.
"It will only affect us if we allow it to, if we think about it too much then it might have an impact on confidence, but we should be able to deal with that." Bilic is without Diafra Sakho (thigh), but has Winston Reid fit again following a knock against Sunderland last month.
Everton will be full of confidence after beating Sunderland 6-2 at home on Sunday, with Arouna Kone scoring a hat-trick and Romelu Lukaku also on target.
Roberto Martinez - likely to be without Leighton Baines, Mo Besic and Tom Cleverley due to a lack of match fitness this weekend - is impressed by Lukaku and Kone's blossoming partnership. Martinez said: "Everything started with the connection they have at a human level.
"They are very good friends off the field and there's a real good respect for each other. They understood each other for the different pressures on both players, then you can see the understanding on the pitch. "It's important to have as many options as you can going forward - you can't become a predictable side.
"It's very easy to defend against a specific way of attacking and I think Arouna and Rom have an understanding that can make it very unpredictable. "They're two very different strikers, but they complement each other very well."
West Ham United (from): Adrian, Randolph, Spiegel, Cresswell, Demel, Henry, Jenkinson, O'Brien, Ogbonna, Oxford, Reid, Tomkins, Antonio, Cullen, Kouyate, Lanzini, Moses, Noble, Obiang, Payet, Samuelsen, Song, Carroll, Jelavic, Lee, Valencia, Zarate.
Everton (from): Howard, Joel, Stanek, Baines, Browning, Coleman, Funes Mori, Galloway, Holgate, Stones, Barkley, Barry, Besic, Cleverley, Gibson, Lennon, McCarthy, McGeady, Mirallas, Osman, Deulofeu, Kone, Lukaku, Naismith, Rodriguez.
Match Appointments
Referee: Paul Tierney Assistants: D Bryan, A Nunn Fourth Official: M Atkinson