Slaven Bilic says West Ham's new home is a 'great stadium'

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has scoffed at the notion his side are happy to be away from home this weekend rather than playing at the London Stadium.

The Hammers have endured a difficult start to the 2016/17 season and are 18th in the Premier League, with just one win from their first seven games.

And life at their new home ground, the former Olympic Stadium, has been blighted by incidents of crowd trouble and the grumblings of unhappy fans.

However, Bilic disagreed with the suggestion the Hammers were relieved to be playing Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday.

"Make no mistake, we would rather play at home because there we feel the 60,000 people," said Bilic.

"Of course it is not a relief, we would like to play Palace at home on Saturday.

"The stadium is not a reason, the stadium is great. Many clubs changed stadiums and needed time to settle in, to get used to the stadium.

"It is a great stadium but we have to win a few games to feel more at home."

Bilic also confirmed that an internal investigation into a squad night out last month remains ongoing.

The Hammers boss told his players to go on a bonding session on the Monday night after the 3-0 loss at home to Southampton and pictures then surfaced on social media of striker Andy Carroll and goalkeeper Darren Randolph apparently still out, with users suggesting the pair appeared drunk.

Blic subsequently promised an investigation but revealed on Thursday that there was nothing yet to report.

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"It's still not over," he said. "It is an old story and it is not very important now.

"It is not done yet. It is not easy, I can't do the investigation because it didn't happen on the pitch.

"I'm going to react but it isn't done and I don't think about that at the moment, I am thinking about our next game.

"I can only repeat what I said before, it was my decision. If they stepped out of the line of the rules of our club, they will be punished."

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