Sam Allardyce has warned his West Ham United side to forget about their previous wins over Blackpool this season as they prepare to meet them in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

The two sides will clash on Saturday with an immediate return to the Premier League at stake. The Hammers had no problems against Ian Holloway’s team in the league, claiming 4-0 and 4-1 wins over them. But Allardyce insists this will be irrelevant when the sides face each other at Wembley.

The former Blackburn Rovers boss told the club website: “We’ve got to make it first and we are not just going to be able to turn up and think we’ll be able to beat them. Irrespective of the fact we won both games quite comfortably in the league this year, we still have to earn the right to beat them.

“It’s a huge prize, but all of our season and all of what we’ve tried to do rides on the 90 minutes. It can’t get any bigger and you hope it doesn’t affect the players’ ability to play their best.”

Blackpool boast an extraordinary record in the play-offs, having won their previous nine matches prior to the draw at Birmingham City last week. The side won promotion at Wembley two years ago after a victory over Cardiff City and their form in the end of season competition will give them great confidence.

The West Ham boss admitted the opposition have an advantage over his side after their recent success.

He said: “Most of their team are experienced as they won the play-offs two seasons ago so they’ve experienced that and so has their manager. They’ve been there in that arena before, which is an advantage.”

Allardyce’s side finished the campaign impressively and their 5-0 aggregate win over Cardiff in the semi-final was arguably two of their strongest performances of the season.

The Irons boss continued: “We’ll handle this pressure because the thing is it’s a better stage to go and deliver rather than playing at home on your last game of the season and everyone crapping themselves in case you don’t do it. We managed it then and hopefully we’ll manage it equally as good now and try and get the players to deliver.

“Only losing one in 20 now and scoring as many goals as we’ve scored in the last eight games, where we’ve averaged three goals a game, has been a terrific period for us and a terrific season. Just the disappointing thing was that had we been a little luckier and a little more careful with the home results, drawing instead of winning, we would have got automatic promotion, or in the past 86 points would be enough.

“So I think it’s been a fantastic season by everybody who works at West Ham United. Considering where we’ve come from at the start it’s outstanding as it is by Blackpool.

“We’ve found for the first time that the three teams relegated have all made the play-offs,” Allardyce continued. “The turnaround you have to do is something that needs to be handled and managed and we’ve all delivered. Whether we can deliver the final one now is the big ask for us and hopefully we can.

“We carried the favourites burden well against Cardiff with two outstanding performances where we scored five goals and conceded none. We never looked at any stage that we were under threat so we lived with it well. On the bigger stage let’s live with the pressure again and hope we come out as winners. That’s what you need and what you play football for.

“It’s about managing euphoria that comes with playing in that big arena. We need to be a calming influence, to bring the players down to make sure they’re focused and deliver a controlled performance that enables them to go out and deliver their skills.”

The Hammers only have one major doubt ahead of Saturday’s final after midfielder Jack Collison went off with a shoulder injury against Cardiff. But the Wales international’s injury was not as bad as initially feared and he is consisdered a possible starter.

West Ham will be backed by more than 35,000 supporters after they sold out their extended ticket allocation on Tuesday morning.