West Ham United defender Pablo Zabaleta says his side must aim to make themselves mathematically safe from relegation ‘as soon as possible’.

The Hammers have had a huge turnaround in fortunes since the appointment of David Moyes back in November.

When the Scot took charge at the London Stadium, West Ham sat 18th in the table with only 9 points to their name, however are now on the 30 point mark and within touching distance with the top half.

And Zabaleta, who joined the club on a free from Manchester City in the summer, believes his side must build upon the good form they have shown under Moyes and beat the drop ASAP, so they can begin to build for next season.

“We want to be safe as soon as possible,” said the Argentine veteran. “If you look at the season, we’ve had so many ups and downs and to be good enough to look up and fight for European qualification or something like that, you need more consistent to give yourselves that chance.

“The reality is we are only four points above the relegation zone, so we need four or five more wins to be safe. It’s not going to be easy.

“I’d rather be playing on Saturday as that would mean we’re still in the FA Cup, but we’ve got so many players coming back from injury and a free weekend will give the manager an extra week to recover them for the next game against Liverpool.

“We need the whole squad because everyone is important and we need to give our best to the team in the big games we have coming up.”