Zabaleta thinks Pellegrini is facing a problem for the first time at West Ham

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West Ham United are winless under Manuel Pellegrini in the Premier League.

West Ham United defender Pablo Zabaleta has told The Sun that he trusts Manuel Pellegrini, but he is facing uncharted territory at the London Stadium.

The Hammers appointed Pellegrini as a replacement for David Moyes over the summer, feeling that the experienced Chilean was the prefect appointment.

Pellegrini has already won the Premier League title with Manchester City, whilst he is a former Real Madrid manager and a renowned boss around the world.

However, Pellegrini has yet to pick up a single Premier League point as West Ham manager, losing all four of his league games, with the most recent coming with a 1-0 home defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Fans are expecting him to figure out a major improvement after the international break, but with Everton, Chelsea and Manchester United to come in their next three games, it’s hard to see just where the points are coming from.

Pellegrini doesn’t appear to be in any imminent danger of the sack, but there is mounting pressure on him already – and one of his most trusted players has opened up.

Pablo Zabaleta may have been signed by former boss Slaven Bilic in a deal worth £90,000-a-week (Daily Mail), but he has a major affinity with Pellegrini having worked together at San Lorenzo as well as Manchester City.

Now, Zabaleta has told The Sun that he trusts Pellegrini to turn things around, but he is facing something for the first time; not having a great quality of player at his disposal, with many of his spells in Chile, Argentina and Spain often coming with clubs expected to be challenging around the top six at the time of his management, meaning Zabaleta thinks it may take time for him to get things right.

“You trust in the way he works because of the teams he has worked with before,” said Zabaleta. “The thing for Manuel is that for the first time maybe he doesn’t have the same quality in the team like he had before.”

“So maybe it will take more time than at other clubs for him to get everything right. At Manchester City there was so much quality, we won games easily. Here it’s not the same. But he’s a great man, a good manager and will try to find the best way to get the results,” he added.