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Slaven Bilic has called on his players to "step up and do more" when West Ham travel to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday in the absence of his key midfielder Dimitri Payet. The fixture has particular significance for Bilic, being the one in which he made his debut for the club as a player in February 1996. On that occasion West Ham won 1-0, and Bilic noted that it was "a special game – there are some games that are more special to the fans and that's why they are derbies". Yet this special match will require a special performance from his players after losing Payet for up to 12 weeks to an ankle injury suffered against Everton . Bilic Billige arsenal Fodboldtrøje is unsure how the team will cope without the Frenchman. West Ham's Dimitri Payet could miss three months with ankle injury Read more "You don't have to be West Ham manager to say he's very important for us. On one hand West Ham is not just Dimitri Payet, but Dimitri Payet is our best player – the most important player for us especially when we have the ball. Of course we're going to replace him, we're not going to play with 10 players, but to be honest he's unreplaceable – that's why he's Payet. He's one of those players who makes a team better by 10, 20 or 50% and we will see how we look without him. It's a question mark to me as well … Now we have a lot of quality players and the players who are going to play have to share it a little bit – they have to step up and do more for us." Bilic is angry about James McCarthy's "nasty" challenge on Payet. "More clubs will be hurt if referees don't clamp down on tackles like the one that injured Dimitri Payet … that kind of tackle should not be allowed," he wrote in the Evening Standard. The striker Diafro Sakho will be back after injury and Bilic knows his team have to adapt. "We can't be better without Payet, I have no problems saying that. But we can be a Billige arsenal Fodboldtrøje bit different, and we're going to try to be a bit different." West Ham will also be without the key forward Enner Valencia. The Ecuadorian was injured too against Everton, in his second game back having been out since the Europa League match against Astra Giurgiu in July. "Last season [Valencia] was one of the best players in this club, and to be without him again is a massive blow," Bilic said. "His injury looks like four weeks out, which is not that long but is long enough for you to feel a little bit down. We have problems. But we have a good squad and now it's time for the players who didn't play that much to show themselves."