West Ham’s youngsters kick off their new season in Premier League Two Division One off at Dageham and Redbridge this evening.

And as we have previously reported Michail Antonio will be seeing action along with exciting new £3 million midfielder Sead Haksabanovic.

Kick off is at 7pm and it will be a good idea to get down there a bit earlier than usual as the level of interest in the duo – along with the team’s appearance at this level – is bound to attract a decent crowd.

After winning promotion to the top division via the Play off at Newcastle  the under 23s find themselves pitched in at the deep end against last season’s Division One champions Everton.

It will be a big test and discovery journey as the lads begin to find out where they are in terms of the step up against a very good team.

And young Nathan Holland – who was impressive during the pre-season campaign in Austria and Germany – is likely to be involved against his former club saying: “It will be great to play against my old club, and it’s the first game of the season so we’re raring to go.

“The confidence in our team is high after last season, though. We want to continue with the momentum from last year. I know I’ve obviously been with the first team this pre-season but the lads have done well this summer and they’ve played some good teams..

I’m looking forward to us getting back to Dagenham and showing everyone what we can do.”

And academy boss Terry Westleytold ClaretandHugh: We could hardly have a better game to kick off the season after the great play off win at Newcastle in the last game.

It could tell us a lot about ourselves and we are very much looking forward to it.”