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West Ham manager Slaven Bilic wants players pumped up for Chelsea EFL Cup game

Slaven Bilic sits pitchside at The London Stadium,
Image: Slaven Bilic wants his West Ham players to be motivated by the visit of Chelsea

West Ham are hoping for a trouble-free night off the pitch when they host rivals Chelsea in the EFL Cup but manager Slaven Bilic will not instruct his players to remain calm.

The Hammers face a major test of security, stewarding and policing when the London Stadium hosts its first derby in the fourth round of the competition on Wednesday.

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Slaven Bilic speaks about his side's late win against Sunderland

There have already been disturbances in the stands and outside the ground at some of West Ham's previous home matches, and a series of measures are in place in a bid to ensure events on the pitch are not marred by those off them.

But Hammers boss Bilic wants his players pumped up as they attempt to knock Antonio Conte's side out and reach the quarter-finals.

"I don't want them to be calm, no, no," he said. "I want them to be focused and up for it, but at the same time not to do anything stupid.

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"Before these games you don't need a special motivation, as it is Chelsea. You can calm them a little bit down, but you want them to be in a state that they can't wait for the game to start."

While the club are working hard to solve the troubles off the pitch at their new home, Bilic has come up with a way to remedy their problems on it.

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The Hammers were dumped out of the Europa League by Romanian side Astra Giurgiu and suffered heavy defeats against Watford and Southampton as they struggled to adapt to their new surroundings.

Bilic decided the squad should train at the former Olympic Stadium once a week, and the move paid immediate dividends with Saturday's 1-0 win over Sunderland.

Before these games you don't need a special motivation, as it is Chelsea.
Slaven Bilic

"We've done it three or four times now, and we did it on the Friday before Sunderland," the Croatian revealed.

"It's about the optical reality they have on the pitch, and where everything is. It is wider and bigger.

"You can lift your head up and think 'there's no way I can get there', or 'there's no way I can help my team-mate press'. But the more you practice on it, the better it will be.

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"It's for the players to get used to that specific pitch, to the size, to certain areas where they play.

"You score some good goals from a specific spot in training and when you are in a match you think 'I scored yesterday from here'. It definitely helps."

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