Walter Mazzarri wary of Dimitri Payet and Simone Zaza's quality for West Ham

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Walter Mazzarri is aware of Simone Zaza and Dimitri Payet for West Ham

Walter Mazzarri says he understands the threat of Dimitri Payet and new signing Simone Zaza ahead of Watford's trip to face West Ham on Saturday.

The Italian, who took over as head coach at Vicarage Road in the summer, is only too aware of the qualities of his compatriot Zaza, who earned a move to Juventus after an impressive spell at Sassuolo, with Payet also expected to start this weekend. Zaza joined the Hammers on loan in August, with a view to a permanent move, after he appeared for Italy at Euro 2016 and Mazzarri says he and Payet are just two of a number of dangerous players they can expect to encounter at London Stadium.

Simone Zaza signed for West Ham United this summer (picture via @WestHamUtd on Twitter)

Zaza, we know him very well. He's a very, very good player," Mazzarri said in his pre-match news conference on Friday. "We would have preferred if he would have arrived later at West Ham. But we know Zaza, we know West Ham.

"They have extremely good players. Another one is Payet. But we are very positive on what we're doing. We are very happy with our job. Yes, they haven't got only Zaza. They have very good players, West Ham." Mazzarri says there are still a few tests to run on some players to assess their fitness after they arrived back from international duty during the week, including new £7m signing Daryl Janmaat. "It's not easy because we need to verify the condition of the players that came back on Wednesday," he said.

Dimitri Payet is expected to start for West Ham this weekend

"One of them is Janmaat another is [Valon] Behrami, but all of them mainly. Yesterday [we ran some tests], but also today I'm going to do the last test to verify the condition of the players." Mazzarri was also quizzed on the fitness of new signing Roberto Pereyra, who made his debut against Arsenal before the international break, and the Watford head coach says the player is aware of what is required from him at his new club.

Roberto Pereyra made his Premier League debut against Arsenal

"I wanted all the new players that arrived from the international break to be here with us, as Pereyra did," Mazzarri said. "Because I'm sure that now Pereyra understands what I want from him, and how to perform on the pitch."