Dons skipper Dean Lewington has welcomed news of a star-studded West Ham line-up at stadiummk on Wednesday night, saying: "It's what everyone wants to see."

Lewington will lead out the Dons in their first home pre-season fixture this summer against a Hammers side expected to be packed with household names.

Having sent a young squad to the friendly against League 2 Burton Albion at the weekend, Irons boss Avram Grant will call on far more established personnel against Karl Robinson's Dons, including those involved at this summer's World Cup.

England internationals Rob Green, Matthew Upson and Carlton Cole are all expected to see match time at stadiummk along with new signings Thomas Hitzlsperger and Pablo Barrera.

Much-coveted midfielder Scott Parker is also expected to be on show after the Hammers hierarchy issued a firm 'hands-off' warning to all potential bidders following a reported approach from Tottenham.

"When you play against a Premier League club, everyone wants to see their best players on show," Lewie told mkdons.com.

Carlton Cole, Matthew Upson, Scott Parker and Mark Noble could all feature at stadiummk tonight.

"These are some of the best players in the country so it's a better spectacle for the fans and a better test for us as players.

"I know a lot of clubs tend to put promising young players out in pre-season, but they don't have the experience of playing Premier League football week-in and week-out and that's what we want to measure ourselves against."

Wednesday's game marks an important stage in the Dons' pre-season schedule, with boss Robinson turning his attention from long-term fitness to specific footballing elements of performance.

But with Saturday's game at Rushden and Tuesday's visit of Birmingham coming in close proximity to the season opener at Walsall on 7th August, full-back Lewington reckons Wednesday offers the last chance for a hard workout.

He said: "The bulk of the hard fitness work is done now, but tonight will be our last chance for a really good blow-out because you'd expect the intensity to drop a little in the week building up the first game when we start working on match specifics.

"Some people will get 70 minutes tonight and you can always expect to work hard against a Premier League side, because you're more than likely to see a bit less of the ball and have to chase a bit harder."

It's been an extremely productive pre-season programme for the Dons, with Robinson keen to arrange a larger number of friendlies to offer match time to a greater proportion of his squad.

Lewington says the change in approach from previous regimes has been welcomed by the players, but underlines his manager's belief that focus must now switch from fitness to match specifics.

He said: "Last season we only played three games so it's been a bit of a change this year and I think the lads have all enjoyed it. You never notice the running so much if it's done in a match environment and the lads would always rather work on fitness with a ball in play.

"We've had some good tests against some local sides, which has allowed our fans to get to the games and create a good atmosphere.

"It's important now that we get back into that match familiarity, the routine of preparing for specifically for games tailoring training around fixtures rather than the more general work we've been doing recently.

"You get into a different groove during pre-season, so you have to switch yourself back on to a realistic match mindset. We'll be doing that over the next three games so that we hit the ground running at Walsall a week on Saturday."

Tickets for Wednesday night's friendly against West Ham United at stadiummk are priced £10 for Adults, £6 for Concessions and £1 for Under-16s. Tickets available from the MK Dons Online Ticket Service until 6.00pm and from the MK Dons Box Office right up to kick-off.