West Ham manager Slaven Bilic hails sprint king Andre Ayew after Spurs heroics

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has applauded Ghana forward Andre Ayew who bagged a brace against Tottenham Hotspur after being handed a rare start.

The 27-year-old stole the limelight with two second half goals as the Hammers fought from behind to beat Spurs 3-2 at Wembley on Wednesday night.

And manager Slaven Bilic, who made nine changes to the squad that lost 3-0 at home to Brighton, has reserved praise for the Ghanaian.

"I made nine changes to the team on Wednesday night and the boys who came into the side have given me and my staff a positive headache when it comes to picking the team for Saturday," Bilic said as reported by his club's official website.

"I’ve always said it is about the squad and there is no space for individuals. Whoever plays on Saturday knows that. We will need all of them over the course of the season.

"We wanted to go through to the quarter-finals. OK, one or two of them were rested, but only because we believe in the guys behind them and that they deserve to play – the likes of Sam Byram, Angelo Ogbonna, Declan Rice, Edimilson Fernandes and Andre Ayew – and they took their chance.

"We have two days to prepare for Palace, which is not ideal, but the win gives us energy and freshness and nobody felt tired and there were no long faces at the training ground on Thursday morning."

Ayew could be rewarded with his fifth start of the season against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

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