West Ham United skipper Mark Noble has insisted that he and his teammates remain positive despite a sluggish start to the new season.

The Hammers have lost two of their opening three Premier League games and also exited the Europa League at the qualifying stage for the second year running.

However, Noble believes that manager Slaven Bilic's "great business" in the transfer market, on top of certain key players - namely France international playmaker Dimitri Payet - returning to action could now act as a turning point in the early weeks of the campaign.

"Adding Simone Zaza to the squad as well as our other signings was great business by the club though sometimes you only know how good your signings are going to be by playing games and putting points on the board," he told United's official website ahead of the visit of Watford on Saturday.

"Alvaro Arbeloa is a great signing for us as well. We have Dimi coming back from France, Manu [Lanzini] is back to full fitness, and [Sofiane] Feghouli is back in full training and this squad looks a lot stronger so we're looking forward to the game on Saturday. We have more players coming back fit and we will be ready to go on Saturday to try and get three points.

"We're in the same points position as we were last season having lost to Leicester and Bournemouth at home and beaten Arsenal away, so we're at the same level. We're still very positive and looking forward to the rest of the season."

West Ham won their last meeting with Watford 3-1, Noble scoring two goals from the penalty spot at Vicarage Road to help his side to all three points at the tail end of last season.