West Ham boss Slaven Bilic needs no telling how important Dimi Payet has become to West Ham admitting: “He is our best player.”
And at his morning presser he declared that you don’t have to be West Ham manager to understand that!
Ahead of the game against Spurs he said: “His impact, not only on West Ham but on the Premier League, has been huge and he is important for us when it comes to scoring goals, assists and keeping the ball.
“We are going to miss him, definitely, and it’s a big loss for us. It was a simply a very, very bad tackle from the Everton player.
“We are going to miss him, but we are not going to play with ten players. To be honest, it is difficult to replace him because he is irreplaceable. That’s why he is Payet. He is one of those players who makes the team better.
“We are going to see how we’re going to look without him. It’s a question mark for me as well. On the other hand, we are not only Payet. We now have a lot of quality players and those who play will have to share that burden, step up and do more for us to ensure we feel his absence less.”
Talking of Sunday’s match against Spurs on the official club site “It is a special game and it was special when I used to play for West Ham.My first game was Spurs away and we won 1-0 and Dani the Portuguese player scored!
“It’s a special game, yes. It’s a cliche that every game is for three points but there are some games that are more special to the fans and they are derby games, and this one is definitely one of them.
“Some are saying this is the game of the season for West Ham. I wouldn’t say that, but it is a special game and you can that feel around the camp this week and we’re looking forward to it, of course. We are waiting for it big time.”