Evening news round-up for Friday 02/12/16 by 337hammer.

Slaven Speaks – Arsenal.

How do you raise the players’ confidence back to the level of the 1-1 draw against Man United?

Of course when you draw at Manchester United, it gives you something extra. After that game, we were very confident and wanted to build on that. Now tomorrow we have a massive task again at home. People are talking about four tough Premier League games in a row for us and we are at the halfway line and have a massive game against a team who is a title contender. But we have a chance, like we showed against Spurs. whufc.com

Andy Carroll is back and ready to trouble Arsenal.

Andy Carroll is back to make Arsenal uncomfortable again with West Ham manager Slaven Bilic finally ready to recall his troubled star striker. Carroll will be in the Hammers’ squad for Saturday’s late kick-off, a rematch of last season’s 3-3 draw which saw him net a hat-trick while single-handedly dragging his side back from the dead. His manager had hinted at using the often-injured frontman in one of West Ham’s double-header of games at Manchester United in the last week, but an outing at Old Trafford was always unlikely. dailymail.co.uk

Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio out.

We paid the price for playing a strong team in the cup game,” Bilic admitted. “The good thing is it is not really bad.  “I just spoke to the medical team and they’re out for this game but the team is very optimistic they should be ready for the game against Liverpool [on Sunday December 11].” standard.co.uk

Slaven Bilic pays tribute to Andy Carroll ahead of West Ham striker’s return.

Bilic said: “He’s a player that offers something special, he is one of the reasons why we were so prolific last season in front of goal, why we were so versatile, so dangerous, why we scored so many goals and why we finished so high. “From anywhere in the box when you put a cross in, a half-decent one, he makes it a good ball and the defences have to take care of him. No centre-back feels comfortable when he’s close to the goal and the ball is in the air.” skysports.com

Pedro Obiang: ‘My mother said if God has given you a chance you should grasp it’.

Obiang is inquisitive, perceptive and generous with his time and there is a reason why people at West Ham often forget he is 24. He seems older, transmitting a sense of calm after each question and displaying intelligence and maturity by making it clear he does not always have the right answer. He grapples with his sense of identity and belonging, admitting he is still trying to work out where he is from. He has an Italian wife, a Spanish passport and parents who left Equatorial Guinea in search of a better life 40 years ago. “I like the sound of being a citizen of the world,” he says.

Obiang wants to learn more about himself and the world outside football, which is why he is doing a degree in political science. Seeing as much of England as possible has been high on his list of priorities since West Ham signed him for £4.5m from Sampdoria in the summer of 2015 and, although he speaks three languages, it frustrates him that he is not confident enough to conduct this interview in English yet. theguardian.com

Edimilson Fernandes: What he did before moving to East London?

Edimilson joined FC when he was just 10 years old. He was playing for a local team called FC Fully when he came up against the team that the FC Sion president’s son played for. His performance was so impressive that Christian Constantin, the FC Sion president, decided to sign him. He was always one of the best players in the team, but he was never a hard worker. His coaches always complained about his lack of investment.

That changed in the first part of the 2014-15 season when he was playing with the U21 team. He realised that he had to train much harder if he wanted to make it into the first-team. Edimilson became part of the first-team in January 2015 under manager Didier Tholot and made his first appearance on 1^st June 2013 during the final game of the season – a 4-2 home win over FC Zurich. essexlive.news

Bilic: West Ham can’t rely on Payet to play alone, we all need to do better.

In his press conference today (Friday), Bilic was full of praise for the consummate professional that Payet is and insisted he was happy with his superstar. Bilic said: “He is fully committed in training and games, in defence and with the ball he is world class, I am happy with him. He is an easy player to train, a really good professional, it is all positive.

“Others expect the best players to give more, week in week out and that’s why they are the best players but we can’t expect Dimitri Payet to play alone, we need all of the players to do better for us. “He was key with or without Michail Antonio but now that Antonio is out, we are losing goals basically, no matter that he is not playing centre forward. That pressure doesn’t increase on Dimi now, it increases on the whole team.” essexlive.news

Dimitri Payet’s recent attitude at West Ham not good enough, says Paul Merson.

“I was impressed with Manchester United in midweek, but it was against a poor West Ham team, who were virtually playing with 10-men – Dimitri Payet doesn’t look interested – at all,” Merson said. “I would advise him to knuckle down and help get West Ham out of this relegation battle. He looks like someone that wants to be moving on his way. If it wasn’t for West Ham nobody would have ever heard of Payet – he wouldn’t even be playing for France.”

West Ham spent £11m to bring Payet to the club in 2015 and Merson believes the player has a duty to repay that faith at a time where the club need him more than ever. “He needs to make sure West Ham have a good season. Then, at the end of the season, he could get his move. He looks like he’s putting himself first rather above West Ham Football Club. “Look at him the other day when Ashley Fletcher scored at Old Trafford. He didn’t look happy. He should start running around and winning points for the club.” skysports.com

West Ham need discipline against Arsenal, says Danny Murphy.

West Ham need to show the same discipline they did at Old Trafford last weekend, where they drew 1-1. They need the same defensive organisation and caution as in an away game against one of the top teams. When you’re at home, you can feel an obligation to attack. That is exactly what Arsenal will want West Ham to do, because of their pace and creativity. West Ham cannot fall into that trap. standard.co.uk

Under-pressure West Ham boss Slaven Bilic wanted by 1860 Munich.

West Ham boss Slaven Bilic is a shock target for 1860 Munich. The German club are on the hunt for a new manager and currently have Daniel Bierofka in interim charge. A number of big-name coaches have been linked with the post, including former Chelsea and Portsmouth boss Avram Grant and ex Aston Villa coach Roberto Di Matteo.

However, according to German news outlet TZ, Bilic is high on Munich’s shortlist to takeover. The Croatian is under pressure at Upton Park and there was speculation he could be shown the door earlier this season. If that is the case then Munich are ready to pounce to see if Bilic would like to continue his career in Germany. talksport.com