Payet is a massive loss – Tomkins

West Ham defender James Tomkins says his side can cope without injured talisman Dimitri Payet, while admitting the absence of the Frenchman comes as a “massive loss” to the club.

Payet has been ruled out for three months with an ankle injury and the Hammers attack is depleted further by Enner Valencia also being injured.

But Tomkins claimed West Ham, who have scored in all but one of their Premier League matches this season, have a strong enough squad to manage without the key duo.

“It’s unfortunate Enner and Dimi have got injured because they’re two important players for us – they’re game-changers,” he told Sky Sports.

Tomkins highlighted Manuel Lanzini as another key player for the Hammers, who have hit 23 goals in 12 games to give Slaven Bilic a fine start after replacing Sam Allardyce as the team’s manager.

“Manu has done brilliantly for us already this year, and he looks a real spark on the pitch,” he said.

“He can change the game in a minute – you saw what he did against Everton, and that’s what he does every day in training.”

Tomkins added that Mauro Zarate and the fit-again Andy Carroll are other good attacking options for the Hammers.

The 26-year-old defender revealed he is looking forward to facing Tottenham on Sunday in a match he looks for first when the fixture list is released.

He said: “They’re big games, and massive for the fans.

“With the away wins we’ve had so far, to top it off with a win against Spurs, it wouldn’t get much better than that.”