Bilic keen to avoid another Zaza situation in January

Slaven Bilic: Signed Zaza

Slaven Bilic insists West Ham will not panic buy in January despite their difficult start to the season.

The Hammers are languishing in 17th place in the Premier League after winning just three of their opening 11 matches.

The picture could look even more bleak after their next four fixtures, which start at unbeaten Tottenham on Saturday before clashes with Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

West Ham boss Bilic knows they need to climb away from trouble quickly, but he is confident he already has the answers to their problems at his disposal and he will not make a rushed decision in January.

Bilic brought in Simone Zaza on loan from Juventus at the end of August for a fee of £4.25million after several other targets proved to be out of reach.

The 25-year-old has struggled to impress and has failed to score in nine appearances for the Hammers with his performances coming under the microscope.

Reports suggest as part of the loan deal, five more appearances from Zaza would trigger a permanent £20million transfer and Bilic is keen to avoid another transfer disaster.

Simone Zaza West Ham

“I definitely think, and I know, we have solutions in the squad,” he said.

“We have some players who were absent for a long time. Now they are coming back and they are going be our new signings so we are not thinking about the transfer window solving all our problems.

“Of course every club will look at one or two players, but not on that scale. The transfer window is far away, we are talking about football, I am completely concentrated on the players we have, and the players who will come back.”

One of those returning players is forgotten striker Diafra Sakho, who will be in the squad at White Hart Lane for the first time this season.

Sakho was on the verge of joining West Brom over the summer but failed a medical and has only just managed to regain fitness some three-and-a-half months later.

With none of West Ham’s forwards having found the net so far this season, the Senegal international could provide a major boost as Bilic bids to haul them up the table.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the whole season, or now. We are there,” he said.

“We are missing points. If we had beat Stoke last time out we would be mid-table, because it’s so tight. But we are 17th, and if you are 17th you are very close to relegation and we have to improve even more.

“On one hand the worst thing to do is lose confidence and doubt yourselves individually and as a group. On other hand you can’t keep talking and saying the table doesn’t matter, that we are a good team and we will click.

“We need to win games because the other teams are also getting unexpected results which are getting them points.”