Views from the squad ahead of West Ham Carabao Cup clash

Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Harry Winks are relishing the prospect of a hotly-contested London derby in the Carabao Cup tonight (Wednesday 25 October).

West Ham United are the visitors to Wembley for our fourth round tie, kick-off 8pm.

The players are acutely aware that Slaven Bilic's men will be hungry for victory to claim bragging rights and soothe their Premier League woes.

But they're determined to remain focused in a bid to get through to the last eight. Here's what the lads had to say ahead of the game...

Dele Alli

Thoughts on this London derby 
"We know how big it is for the fans. We want to win every game anyway so nothing changes there, but it certainly makes it even more important when we know how much the fans want to win it. It's the Carabao Cup and obviously we want to do the best we can in every competition. It’s about making sure we prepare. I’m sure the gaffer will bring up some points we need to improve on from Sunday and we'll look to play well and win the game to get through."

Toby Alderweireld

On West Ham 
"It’s a difficult game because West Ham are not in the best moment but the cup games can be different. They will obviously want a good result and they will fight for it, so it’s up to us to be up front with it and do our best to try to get to the next round. Obviously we’d all like to progress in the competition but you just have to see game-by-game. It’s far (to get to the final) but in the beginning, like I said, you have to go one game at a time and then we’ll see how far we can go."

On our ambitions in the Carabao Cup 
"It’s English cup football and it’s something special, something nice to play. It’s different to other competitions around Europe because everybody takes it really seriously – things like the Carabao Cup and FA Cup are special competitions and it means something if you win the trophy. You can see that this year – there have been a lot of so-called 'big' Premier League teams going through because everyone wants to win it."

Harry Winks

On the challenge of facing the Hammers in knockout football 
"They’re a tough side, very difficult and they’re going to come to Wembley and do everything they possibly can to try to beat us. We’ve got to play our own game, not get carried away with everything and go out there and try to put on a performance and go through. It’s a cup game so anything could happen but we’ll go into it fully focused and hopefully we can get the win."

Read more from Harry Winks, including how he feels now about his memorable goal against the Hammers last season, in the main interview in tonight's official matchday programme – on sale around Wembley at £3.50 for 100 pages as usual.