Neither team can afford to lose the game, as they battle to avoid relegation.
“It is their home game and they will be expected to beat us,” explained McCarthy. “In this fixture the pressure is on them.
“You can all do the maths. If we win this it will put a real dent in West Ham and it would certainly put some real daylight between us and Burnley and Hull.
“What would it do to us psychologically? What would it do to the rest of them psychologically?
“If we don’t lose it would be a hell of a result for us. It is a huge game but more so for West Ham. But it won’t be easy, that’s for sure.
“When we were beaten by West Ham on the opening day of the season there was a lot of hollering and hooting going on that we were destined for the drop and they were destined for bigger and better things.
“It is amazing how, with eight games to play, we are all in the mix for the drop.
“So there is a damn sight more pressure on them now than there was 30 games ago.”
