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West Ham Manager Slaven Bilic Praises 'Positive Headache' Amid Crucial Clash With Crystal Palace

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West Ham boss Slaven Bilic believes his side's 3-2 comeback against Spurs in the Carabao Cup last week was "up there with the best" he can remember.

His team went into half-time trailing 2-0 after goals from Moussa Sissoko and Dele Alli, but a brace from Andre Ayew and a towering header by Angelo Ogbonna earned the Irons the London derby bragging rights.

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Bilic said: "I admit that, if we conceded a third goal it would have been a catastrophe but even at half-time, although we were not happy, I had that feeling that all we needed was a little bit of quality, because we had the space and we had the possession."

The Hammers manager believed a number of factors were against him, making the result that little bit more special, adding: "This was Spurs, this was Wembley, and so Wednesday night was even more unexpected, especially if you take everything into account — the defeat against Brighton, my position and the fact they had been unbeaten for 11 games."

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Tottenham looked comfortable going into half-time but Bilic believes his opponents may have taken their foot off the pedal, stating: 

"Probably Spurs thought they had the game won and were thinking a little about the weekend — and Real Madrid next week. When you lose that momentum and rhythm, you can try twice as hard but never get it back. It doesn’t happen any more — that train has left the station."

The Croatian was "suprised" at the strength of the team fielded by Maurcio Pochettino, but insisted "it was because it was West Ham"

Bilic fielded a strong starting eleven himself, albeit mostly from his second string, and added that any of these players could start in the bottom of the table clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday - a game which he believes could be a "Premier League classic".

"The result and our second-half performance have given me what I call a ‘positive’ headache. Nobody who played in the cup tie was injured, so we are going to monitor the players carefully before we decide on our team to play Crystal Palace."