Slaven Bilic has told his West Ham players to embrace the emotion of their final match at Upton Park.
The Hammers will run out at a packed Boleyn Ground for the last time when they host Manchester United on Tuesday night.
To add extra spice to what is already a momentous occasion for the club, they also need a victory to keep their bid to qualify for the Europa League on track.
And their visitors will be in no mood to roll over as Louis van Gaal’s side are right back in the chase for a top-four finish and Champions League qualification.
Yet Bilic is counting on his players to rise to the occasion, rather than be overawed by it.
“It’s impossible to lose the emotion,” said the Hammers boss. “Let’s say if the game didn’t mean a lot to us or to Manchester United, in the sense of this season, it would be big anyway because it’s the last game at Upton Park.
“But it means a lot to them and to us – both things have clicked, so it’s big, big. It can’t be bigger.
“If they beat us they are very close to fourth place and for us, if we want to secure a Europa League slot, we need to beat them. It’s massive.
“So the players would be emotional even if just one of those couple of things were involved. But there’s nothing wrong with being emotional.”
West Ham’s final Saturday at Upton Park ended in a damp squib, with a surprise 4-1 defeat by lowly Swansea ending their faint Champions League hopes.
It also allowed Southampton to leapfrog them into sixth place, although the Hammers would climb back above them with a win on Tuesday night.
“We were disappointed not to do better in that game,” added Bilic.
“We’d said before that the gap below was smaller than the gap to Manchester City in fourth. To be fair Southampton did a great job with wins against City and Spurs, and now they are with us.”
Darren Randolph will deputise for injured goalkeeper Adrian but Bilic has an otherwise fully-fit squad for the match.
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