West Ham vs Astra Giurgiu team news: Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini in contention

No rest: Dimitri Payet could feature against Astra in a strong West Ham team
Avril Husband/West Ham United via Getty Images
Standard Sport24 August 2016

Slaven Bilic insists he will not rest players for West Ham’s Europa League play-off against Astra Giurgiu tomorrow, despite his side facing a daunting Premier League clash at Manchester City on Sunday.

The Hammers are tied at 1-1 from the first leg and Bilic has vowed not to make the same mistake as last year, when he left a host of leading stars out of the corresponding fixture — against the same opposition — only to be knocked out 4-3 on aggregate.

He said: “We will put out the strongest possible side as we want to qualify. Maybe one of Dimitri Payet and Manuel Lanzini will be on the bench. It is more likely they will participate on Sunday against Manchester City.

“We got a good result in the first leg. If we want to qualify we have to beat Astra at home. I expect us to win.”

West Ham are favourites to progress to the group stage but Bilic warned: “They are the Romanian champions.

“They beat us last year and it is not job done. We have had enough time to recover from Sunday [when they beat Bournemouth] and I am optimistic.”

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