West Ham United defender Pablo Zabaleta has admitted that surviving in the Premier League is "not going to be easy".

The Hammers, who are 12th in the Premier League table, currently sit four points outside the relegation zone with seven wins so far this season.

Argentine defender Zabaleta, who has targeted "four or five" more wins for West Ham's survival this term, added that his side have lacked consistency.

"We want to be safe as soon as possible," the 33-year-old told the club's official website. "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."

West Ham were defeated 4-1 by Liverpool in the reverse fixture at the London Stadium in November.