Slaven Bilic backs West Ham United to progress in Europa League qualifying

West Ham United boss Slaven Bilic has tipped his team to see off Birkirkara in the second round of Europa League qualifying.

The Hammers play the second leg of their tie in Malta tonight after earning a narrow 1-0 win at Upton Park last week.

While admitting that his side's lead is a precarious one, Bilic is confident that West Ham will get the job done.

"We are still the favourite and are better than them, but the gap is closing," he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News. "We are better than them of course, and to get a better result than 1-0 we should have scored earlier which I think we deserved, but at the end, we have a positive result.

"I am sure that it should be enough especially if we score a goal here, which we will try to do, and our team is capable of."

West Ham boosted their squad on Wednesday by signing Argentine midfielder Manuel Lanzini on loan from Al Jazira Club.