WEST HAM: Zola remains upbeat ahead of Arsenal clash (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WEST HAM: Zola remains upbeat ahead of Arsenal clash

5:38pm Monday 15th March 2010 in

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GIANFRANCO Zola says he remains upbeat ahead of West Ham's trip to Arsenal on Saturday, despite a demoralising 4-1 defeat at Chelsea at the weekend.

Scott Parker's impressive display and wonder strike was one of few positives to emerge from the game, as Didier Drogba bagged two and Florent Malouda and Alex also netted to hand Chelsea all three points.

However, Zola claims he will not be losing any sleep over the result and is already looking ahead to this week's match, against another of the Premier League's frontunners.

“I made some changes at Chelsea and I will judge in the week what to do next time,” said the Italian. “I really pay attention to how the players train, their form, their condition and then I make my choices. We have some players coming back from injury and I have plenty of options. In football another game could bring anything and I will go to Arsenal with a positive approach.”

Zola chose to rest Carlton Cole for the match, as the striker had struggled with an injury during the week, while Alessandro Diamanti also found himself on the bench, Kieron Dyer earning himself a rare start.

But it was Parker's performance that caught the eye. “Scott is unbelievable,” said Zola. “He scored a great goal to equalise. I keep saying to him to focus on his shooting because it would make a big difference to his game. But other than the goal he was excellent. There was a moment at the end of the first half and the start of the second half when he was completely in control, actually we were in control as a team.”