Bilic: No Messi…ng – Payet is as important

Finally, Slaven Bilic has made the comparison between Messi and Payet!

With the Hammers playmaker supreme on his way back to the action tomorrow, the boss declared: ‘Every big club is suffering if their best player is not playing,’

 ‘They are not panicking at Barcelona but they are saying Messi is injured they are at least a little bit not happy with that and their roster is unbelievable.

‘Of course they (the best players) make the difference, they are making all the players around them more confident, better and Payet does that for us.’

 Bilic is increasingly confident he can start tomorrow saying: ‘He’s definitely going to be in the squad and if he is fit and ready — and I think he will be because we spoke a couple of times during these couple of weeks —he is going to start the game.’

Bilic has also held talks with Michail Antonio to ensure the winger pushes on after his England call-up.

He said: “Knowing him, he’s gonna put the pedal down and try to become a regular. He’s going to do everything. I think it will give him more motivation and more confidence. I told him not to forget which way of training and playing gave him the opportunity to be called into the England squad.’