The visit of title chasing Tottenham Hotspur to London Stadium may be a daunting prospect, but Slaven Bilic is eagerly anticipating Friday’s London derby.

Spurs arrive in East London four points adrift of league leaders Chelsea and still in with an outside chance of ending a 57 year wait to be crowned champions.

The Hammers, meanwhile, are still not mathematically assured of their Premier League status despite a strong run of recent form.

Bilic understands the importance of the meeting with their cross city neighbours and expects an entertaining match.

“That game is always big, it’s a derby, and it can’t be just an ordinary game,” he said.

“If you add to that it’s a Friday night and they need points to stay in the race for the Premier League, and we need points to climb the table or to make us safe, it makes it even bigger.

“We’re going to approach it in a very positive way, four games unbeaten, with three clean sheets in the last four and knowing we are playing, for me, against the best team in the league.

“Hopefully I am going to enjoy it, but it’s going to be a very nervous game. We will have to be on top of our game, defending even better than we did at Stoke, and take our chances.”

The Hammers failed to take chances against both Stoke and Everton as their last two matches ended goalless and they have struggled to find a clinical edge in recent weeks.

That spell has coincided with Andy Carroll’s absence, with the burly centre-forward struggling with a groin injury.

Carroll has missed the last two weeks, but Bilic has confirmed he expects the number nine to play some part in Friday’s clash.

“I will be very disappointed if he is not involved in our next game,” Bilic said.

“It looked like he would be 50/50 for the Everton game, but he wasn’t, so hopefully he’s going to make it to be involved against Tottenham.

“He won’t be available for 90 minutes, but you don’t need to play the whole game to be effective.

“You want to have him at least on the bench, because it gives a lift to the team as we are lacking goals.

“It is no coincidence that during the period [Carroll was fit] we won six out of nine then suddenly we are without him.”