Fulham head coach Marco Silva has played down the idea that West Ham will be worn out for Sunday’s clash at the London Stadium after their midweek European exertions.

The Hammers were beaten 2-0 by Bayer Leverkusen on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, but during this afternoon’s pre-match press conference, Silva gave short shrift to the notion that David Moyes’ side will be weaker as a result.

The Portuguese boss said:

[West Ham are] a team that wants a response from the last game, like us. A team that is fighting to be in Europe again, and their position during the table, they want to probably to climb up or keep their place. That is what I’m thinking, I’m not going to prepare a game thinking if they are going to be tired or not.

They want to fight to win the game, for sure. They’re playing at home with a big, big support, and it’s going to be in that direction that we’re going to prepare the game. We go to play against a very good side that the last three seasons in a row arrived in the Quarter-Finals of European competition, one of them they won [in the final of the Conference League last season].

Right now, they’re in a position to be fighting to be in Europe again, in a very good position in the table. I don’t need to talk about the individual quality they have, the experienced manager that they have as well. I don’t need to go in this direction. Just see what they have been doing the last few seasons, even in European competitions. We really have to reach our best level to match them and to fight for the three points.”