WITH much of his squad away on international duty, West Ham boss Alan Pardew has found the build-up to tonight's clash with Aston Villa "surreal".

Hammers return to action after a two-week lay-off eager to bounce back from a 2-1 defeat in their last outing at home to Bolton Wanderers.

But the recent international matches have disrupted Pardew's planning as several of his squad were called up by their countries.

"Since the start of the season some of my players have been away for almost 20 days," lamented the Upton Park manager.

"That's a lot of work we would like to be doing that there hasn't been any time for. It feels a bit surreal.

"The teams who were playing on Saturday would have been going out with just one day's preparation, so the extra couple of days we have had were important to me and to Villa boss David O'Leary."

Pardew himself was out of the country watching Germany beat South Africa 4-2 in a friendly game where transfer target Benni McCarthy was on target for the visitors.

And last weekend he watched Yossi Benayoun in action for Israel as they drew 1-1 in Switzerland.

"I wanted to take the opportunity to see some top-class teams in action," he explained. "This break does give me a chance to see a bit of the standards that we are aiming for."

The trip to Germany also gave him a chance to maintain contact with McCarthy, who he hopes may become available in January.