West Ham United are intending to take the Europa League seriously this season.
Slaven Bilic has told West Ham United’s official website that he will be naming his strongest line-up possible in the Europa League this evening.
West Ham qualified for the Europa League last term, but they went out in qualifying after using the tournament as a platform for their young players to impress.
However, this time around, West Ham plan to take the competition much more seriously, and Bilic has promised to name a full strength side against NZ Domzale later today.
“We have played a few games, some have been really good, and we are looking forward to it,” Bilic said. “We are ready, and we are going to come out with the best possible team. All the guys are fit, apart from the ones that I mentioned.
“Reece Oxford joined us from the Euro U19 Championships, he’s fit also and we’re looking forward to Thursday night’s game.”
West Ham are the favourites to make it past Domzale and into the next round of qualifying.
The Europa League can be seen as a distraction, but West Ham have much more depth to their squad this season.
If Bilic does name his strongest line up tonight, West Ham could hand debuts to Sofiane Feghouli, Gokhan Tore and Håvard Nordtveit in the contest – who have all joined the London club this summer.
West Ham have spent the build up to the competitive season on tour of Austria and America.
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