Slaven Bilic is relishing the chance to come up against Pep Guardiola and has no doubts the Spanish coach will stick to his principles as he looks to win major silverware once again this season.
Guardiola has a proven track record as a manager following his memorable spell in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
With six league titles and two Champions League winners' medals to name among a host of other trophies, there is no question that the 45-year-old coach enjoys winning at the highest level and he will look forward to the world famous FA Cup for the first time this season.
Guardiola started the season in electric fashion winning his opening ten games, but his side then suffered a dip in form and they have come under fire in recent weeks despite winning four of their last five league games.
Bilic has no doubts that the City manager will get things right and is expecting another tough encounter when the two teams meet at London Stadium on Friday night.
Bilic said: “He knew the intensity of the English league, he was well prepared for a difficult season. He didn’t expect anything less that he is getting or has faced so far.
“He believes so strongly in the way he wants his teams to play football and he doesn’t want to change it because at the moment it doesn’t look so fluent on the pitch.
“He knew it would be hard. He was prepared for the Premier League, it goes for all the big men.
“They had a brilliant start to the season and then they slowed down a little bit. All the big teams hit form like Chelsea. This is a big game for us and big game for them, it is the FA Cup and it is big for the spectators and the fans.
“They will put out a very strong team because it is a big chance for them to get a trophy. Maybe after the great start they made, maybe some fans, pundits or football people expected them to cruise in the league, especially with Guardiola, especially after that start.
“But it is never easy in any league, especially here. They are not struggling but for their standards, to be seven points from the top is probably not what they expected. But in the beginning, they said they had a long term plan with Guardiola.”
Bilic added: “We have a couple of positions that I discussed with the chairman but I believe in this squad that we have. That is my squad, a squad with enough quality, strength and character to finish the season good.
“Of course, always extra quality would be good to add to the team. In the league it is very likely we will miss some players in these 20 games through injury or suspension. But the core of the squad is really good and I believe in them.”
One player who looks set to be leaving the Hammers is Simone Zaza.
Bilic has no doubts that the Italy international has the quality to compete at the highest level and feels he needed more time to showcase his talents in the Premier League following his move from Juventus last summer.
“He is definitely a good player and we had a big expectation of him but it wasn’t to be because of the clause in his contract.
“With many players, they need a few months or even a year to adjust to the Premier League.
“Unfortunately he came in at a time when the team didn’t play good. After the first international break, when we played those few games, against Watford at home and West Brom, unfortunately we had to judge him on six, seven, eight games which is not a big pattern to judge a player in general.
“He is definitely a good player but like many times in football, it just didn’t happen.”