Ahead of this saturdays's Barclays Premier League fixture against Watford Fc at the London Stadium, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has held his obligatory press conference expressing his appreciation of Watford, his need to have Dimitri Payet back and firing on all cylinders and his appraisal of Michail Antonio's confidence!
"Watford are a good team, they did really well last year and were very active in the transfer market last year. If you look at their squad they have 18 players who are very familiar and have a good team. They have pace and energy, I watched them even more during the break and saw their three games and one in the cup. Like us they had a tough schedule playing Chelsea and Arsenal. We are expecting a tough game."
When asked Slaven Bilic said he "expects" Dimitri Payet to start Saturday's game."He has not played for us since the Chelsea game, he has played for France and we will see today. I am expecting him to be fit and ready to start the game,
we have missed him, It is the same for every club. France missed him, when he came on he gave them something different with his quality and set-pieces."
The Hammers boss had some additional good news about Manuel Lanzini, “He is back and came on against Manchester City, he is fully fit and all the players who came back from their countries have not reported any injuries. A few of them should be involved in the game against Watford.”
Bilic concluded by saying "It will help Michail Antonio to be part of the England squad, he was confident before that, he doesn't need to change the way he plays." when asked whether Michail Antonio's inclusion in the England squad had been beneficial. Other questions regarding player fitness were referred to the head of the medical team Stjin Vandenbrouke."Aaron is doing well with his rehabilitation," Stijn Vandenbroucke told whufc.com. "He has started running and works two times a day with physiotherapist Dom Rogan. He will return to team training in October."Andre is also working hard, he is extremely motivated to play football as soon as possible. We have made great progress and he will get back stronger but the reality is that it will take time."With Andy and Diafra, both are making progress but it is too early to put a time frame on their return to first-team action. I will have a better view on their return dates next week." - Ed
