Bilic: West Ham had point to prove against Watford

Slaven Bilic felt West Ham proved a point by beating Watford 3-1 at Upton Park to make it 15 home Premier League matches unbeaten.

The Hammers lost 2-0 at Vicarage Road in October, but exacted some revenge as Mark Noble scored twice from the spot after Andy Carroll had put the hosts ahead.

And Bilic was pleased to set the record straight against a Watford side who made seven changes ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.

“We wanted to prove to Watford that we are a much better team than the game between us at their ground,” he is quoted as saying by BBC Sport.

“We can say they had half of their mind on the weekend and they rested players, which we expected. But their line-up still had internationals.”

The result kept alive West Ham’s hopes of achieving a top-four finish, with Bilic citing the growing expectation being placed on his men.

“We are victims of our success as the bar is always more and more up,” he added. “We are coping with that well.

“This game was a big one because I told the players ‘the season is good or very good anyway, but after this game are we going to look up and try to catch those teams’. Still we have to look down as Liverpool are in good form.”

Bilic’s side are sixth, four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal and two ahead of Liverpool in seventh.