Pedro Obiang can give Slaven Bilic the inside track on Walter Mazzarri

Should Slaven Bilic be looking for that extra edge over his Watford counterpart Walter Mazzarri tomorrow, then he need look no further than one of his players.

Midfielder Pedro Obiang was a young player at Sampdoria when Mazzarri was manager there and he has a good idea of the way the Watford head coach sets up his teams.

The 24-year-old Spaniard, who has been one of the successes of West Ham’s season so far, said: “I know him well. I even met him as recently as last summer and he told me he was going to Watford.

“He told me he didn’t speak English but I told him not to worry because I didn’t speak English when I arrived at West Ham, either.

“He was my first manager in Sampdoria when I was 16, so I know him and he knows me.

“He likes always to play with the same system, 3‑5‑2. We were sixth in Serie A and reached the Coppa Italia final when he was with Sampdoria. He also finished second and won the Coppa Italia with Napoli.

“Tactically he is good, like most Italian managers. He doesn’t like to take a lot of risks, though, so maybe that will be good for us.

“He is an Italian coach and wants to talk about tactics and normally this would be a problem because he speaks only Italian. But many of his players also speak Italian, so while it is still difficult for him to communicate with all his squad, he can do so either directly or through a translator.

“He didn’t talk to the players too much at Sampdoria because his assistant Nicolo Frustalupi, who is with him always, is a good person who likes to laugh, talk and demonstrate things, a bit like our coach Edin Terzic does here at West Ham.”

Yet another connection between tomorrow’s sides, who are separated by just two points in the Premier League, is Mauro Zarate. The Argentine left West Ham to join Fiorentina last season, before moving to Watford in January.

“I want to tell him not to score tomorrow because we are friends but if he does score I am happy for him because this is football and I know he is a good player and a good person,” said Obiang.

“Mauro is a good guy and when I came to West Ham, he and our goalkeeper Adrian helped me with everything.”

Obiang scored his first goal for West Ham in their recent 3-1 win at Southampton and is eager, now that he has broken his duck, to add to his tally.

He said: “It was an amazing moment for me because I had waited for a year to score a goal and when it happened, I started to think: ‘Oh my, I’ve scored!’

“For a moment I couldn’t believe it. Now I want to score more because when you feel like this, you want to feel the same way again. So, against Watford, I will try to score again.”

Obiang (below) had to wait until this season to tie down a regular place in Bilic’s team but has since impressed sufficiently to win the club’s player of the month award for November.

“Yes, I want to show my all-round qualities but you have to demonstrate this every time you go out on the pitch,” said Obiang, who has been capped by Spain at Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 level.

“This is what you must do if you want to become an important player in this team.”