Bilic’s striker dilemma

Slaven Bilic, the West Ham United manager, believes it is “almost impossible” to partner Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez in attack, despite admitting that goalscoring has been a problem this season.

West Ham welcome Bolton to the London Stadium tonight for their Carabao Cup third-round clash.

Saturday’s goalless draw at West Bromwich Albion continued an upturn for Bilic and his side after winning at home to Huddersfield.

But West Ham have scored just four league goals despite adding former Manchester United forward Hernandez to their ranks.

Hernandez has been operating on the right of a three-man attack since Carroll’s return, with plenty of West Ham fans calling for the pair to be deployed as a twosome.

Bilic, however, does not feel that is a viable option. “It is very hard to put them in their ideal positions as two strikers, which looks good on paper. But you want to have a lot of them [best players] on the pitch at the same time,” he said.

“Of course I’m thinking about that. Chicharito is playing in a position which is not his position. I spoke with him, he’s a great lad … he’s doing a job, of course.”

West Ham’s upturn in form has coincided with Carroll’s return after recovering from another injury, although the England striker will be rested for the clash with Bolton. The 28-year-old has been plagued by injury setbacks in recent years and Bilic admits he is being handled differently this time around.

“Of course we have to manage him,” he said. “He looks good, he looks fit, he is training. We will never rush him … we will try to avoid him playing three games a week, let’s say, for 90 minutes.”