'We need to give everything'

 

 

Slaven Bilic says West Ham United will ‘give everything’ to win a game that could be worth up to £9.5m in extra prize money on Sunday.

The Hammers head to Burnley for their final Premier League fixture knowing victory could see them finish as high as eleventh in the table, earning £19m in the process. However, defeat at Turf Moor could see West Ham finish as low as 16th, which would result in the Club receiving just £9.5m.

With so much at stake, Bilic has urged his injury-hit squad to go above and beyond to end the season on a high in Lancashire.

“It’s the last game of the season and we can still improve our position,” he began. “We have injuries and all that, but we need to give everything to try to win the game and finish in the best-possible way, so it’s a very important game for us.

“The players should be motivated by themselves, because it’s the Premier League and it’s the last game of the season. It’s 90 minutes that is also going to affect the season and our finishing position.

“The last game is always the last memory you have of the season, so I’m expecting the players to be like that. I’m certainly very, very motivated for this game. We want to finish on a positive.”

Bilic will be without a few of his most influential players at Burnley, with captain Mark Noble, vice-captain Winston Reid and Andy Carroll all injured, but the manager believes the likes of James Collins and Jose Fonte can lead the Hammers to victory over Sean Dyche’s men.

I’m certainly very, very motivated for this game. We want to finish on a positive

Slaven Bilic

“We have leaders in our team and good vocal players and also have a good core of, let’s say, ‘British’ players who are leaders, plus some foreigners who were skippers at their previous clubs.

“They are also the reason why we made it in the difficult times. The reason we made is because when we needed to show that character before and during the game, we did it.

“We have the people, starting with a great captain like Mark Noble, we have Collins, Reid and Carroll and also big players like Fonte who was Southampton captain for long enough in the Premier League that we can also call him ‘British’ or whatever, and a few more.”

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Bilic was also asked about the possibility of bringing in new recruits this summer, with the Club being linked with a host of big-name Premier League players in the press in recent days and weeks.

While he would not comment on speculation surrounding individuals, the manager conceded that he will be looking to add quality rather than quantity to his squad during the upcoming transfer window.

“We don’t need squad players because we have been without up to eight players in recent weeks and we’ve still fielded a decent team,” he observed. “That shows we have a squad which is good, but we want to improve the quality in some of the positions.

“I am not going to talk about names now, but we are working on them and hopefully we’re going to be successful in finishing those transfers for the targets that we want.

“Most of the players are linked in the papers with West Ham and, to be fair, the big majority of those rumours, there is no truth in them. We have our targets and we’re going to try to get them.”