Slaven Bilic hailed his West Ham side for their performance as they dumped London rivals Chelsea out of the EFL Cup on Wednesday.
The Hammers boss admitted that his players might have been boosted on seeing that Antonio Conte had made changes to the team that so impressed recently in beating Leicester and Manchester United, but Bilic insisted even a full-strength Blues side would have struggled.
Cheikhou Kouyate and Edimilson Fernandes scored the goals for West Ham in either half, while Gary Cahill cut Chelsea’s arrears in stoppage time at the end of the game.
Bilic felt his side thoroughly deserved their win and he was convinced they would have got it regardless of what side Chelsea fielded at the London Stadium.
“The way they played against Leicester and Manchester United was unbelievable to watch but we matched them,” he said.
“They didn’t have the same team, but they are all great players.” Bilic admitted that seeing the likes Diego Costa, Eden Hazard and Pedro missing from the starting line-up might have served as a bonus for West Ham to give them belief.
“Maybe that helped us because the team that went out hadn’t played together and we used that opportunity.
But they would have had trouble with us even with their strongest team because we played really well, especially in the first half,” he added.
West Ham have been rewarded for victory over Chelsea with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the last-eight next month.
West Ham visit Everton on Sunday in the Premier League, with Bilic’s side 4.50 to take three points from Goodison Park. Everton are 1.80 while the draw is 3.75.
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