Slaven Bilic accused his West Ham United players of lacking intensity in training after the Hammers slumped to a 5-1 drubbing against Arsenal.

Alexis Sanchez scored a hat-trick as further strikes from Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain consigned West Ham to a defeat which leaves them a point above the Premier League drop zone.

In a frank press conference, Bilic said a lack of intensity was leaving United exposed and admitted the London Stadium club are firmly embroiled in a relegation scrap.

“Of course we are [in a relegation fight],” Bilic explained. “I feel responsible for this, because somewhere along the line we lost our intensity in training.

“We don’t do it in every training session, we do it occasionally and that is why we can’t do it over 90 minutes in a game.

“We have to bring that back because you can’t rely on quality. Every team in the league has more or less quality but every team has enough.

“If you do not have the intensity on the level that is required than this (West Ham’s league position) is a possible reflection.”

Despite Andy Carroll heading a consolation on his first appearance since the opening day of the season, West Ham never looked like troubling a rampant Arsenal.

The loss means they are without a win in five league games after a torrid campaign which has contrasted wildly with the highs of last season.

The Hammers had been expected to challenge for a Europa League qualification place this season, and Bilic feels their failure to reach such heights has had an adverse effect on confidence.

He said: “Of course you can’t have confidence when you are 16th in the table and your expectations are maybe to be seventh or eighth.

“You can have confidence as long as the results are good and you keep it like that, but confidence is a chain reaction.”

The Hammers poor start to the season has seen question marks raised about Bilic’s position in recent weeks.

The manner of West Ham’s surrender to the Gunners will only add to the belief he is running on borrowed time.

However, the Croatian feels he has the qualities to right United’s sinking ship and insists he will not walk away from the club.

“It is definitely about time for us to realise what position we are in, what our situation is at the moment and do the only thing to get ourselves out of this position,” he said.

“I am positive I can turn this around, but do I enjoy being in this position? No I don’t enjoy. Do I feel the pressure? Yes.

“Did I do enough last season for West Ham to get some credit? I think I did. At the same time I am 48 and I have spent 30 years in football, so I know how it works.”