Friday 21 October 2016 23:45, UK
Slaven Bilic has warned West Ham to beware of the "absurd" finishing of Jermain Defoe ahead of his side's clash with Sunderland.
The Black Cats are bottom of the table after another wretched start to the season and are without a win in their opening eight games, but Defoe is still enjoying a remarkable renaissance after returning to the Premier League from MLS.
Defoe scored the goals to help keep Sunderland up last season and already has four to his name this term and Bilic says the 34-year-old striker is still a great player.
"He has come back from America maybe better than before, which is amazing," Bilic said.
"I spoke with Niko Kranjcar, my midfield player for Croatia, who played with Jermain at Portsmouth and Spurs. As a number 10 he played with some good strikers and he told me that by far the best movement of a striker was from Jermain Defoe.
"You can see that when you're watching the game, when you're analysing the opponent, the freshness is there. It's still there. You talk about his finishing, it's absurd. He's got it, a clinical finish, so he's still a great player."
By contrast, Hammers striker Simone Zaza has yet to open his account since joining from Juventus but the Italy international put in a vastly-improved performance as West Ham ended their slump with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace last weekend.
And Bilic believes that if Zaza continues to put in such hard-working displays, then the goals will follow.
"It was a really good performance," he said. "I told him that he won more duels in that game than in the four or five games before that put together.
"He was fighting, he was defending, he was good on the ball, he kept the ball well, and you could see after the game that he was really happy and proud about the performance.
"It's not all about goals, of course, but if he plays like that it helps the team a lot, and of course that is one of the reasons why we wanted him. The goals will come."
