Bilic: West Ham do not fear Everton

Slaven Bilic has insisted West Ham are brimming with confidence ahead of Saturday’s Premier League encounter with Everton at Upton Park.

Everton impressed with a 6-2 win over Sunderland last week, but Bilic has made it clear West Ham do not fear this weekend’s opponents, having seen off Chelsea in their last home encounter.

The Hammers have impressed with wins at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City to leave them sixth in the league table and Bilic expects a good game.

“Everton won 6-2 last week and it was a weird game. Sunderland started well, then Everton scored two goals,” Bilic said at a news conference. 

“It went to 2-2 and Everton looked shaky, but when they scored the third and fourth, it could have been nine, 10.

“They are full of confidence, but so are we because we are a team who are playing well and will be at home.”

West Ham will be without Diafra Sakho when they take on Everton, but Winston Reid could return, while Alex Song is also approaching full fitness.

“Sakho is out. It’s nothing major, he felt something after training last week and he has a small tear in his thigh,” Bilic added.

“He’s out on Saturday but the prognosis is that he will be fit for the game after the international break [at Tottenham].

“Reid is back and will be in the squad. It was nothing major for him, but now he’s been training for a whole week.

“Song has been training with us since before the Watford game. He’s been with us for one week and is injury free. Now it’s a matter of match fitness. We have a friendly game on Wednesday and he will play in that.”