Slaven Bilic is taking West Ham United's Europa League campaign extremely seriously.

The Hammers meet Romanian champions Astra Giurgiu in the play-off first leg on Thursday night as they strive to secure a spot in the group stage proper of Europe's second tier club competition.

West Ham were knocked out in the qualifying round by Astra last season but Bilic has no plans to experience the same again and will put out a fairly strong side for this week's initial bout before contemplating next week's return leg at the London Stadium.

"We will put out a strong team," he said. "We want to get to the group stages. These are two very important games for West Ham United.

"We want to qualify. It's a reward for a good season last year and only a few clubs from the Premier League are privileged to play in Europe. We are two games from the group stages and we want to participate.

"All the talk all season is 'will you qualify for Europe', and then you do and the next question is 'why did you qualify?' Well, we have to adjust.

"We know it affects your chances in the next Premier League game but we want to try it. It's good for everyone, it's good for the players to play games against teams from different countries, they become better players."