LONDON (SE) – West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola has called for his players to stay calm ahead of Tuesday's crucial home match with fellow Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton.

West Ham have slipped to 17th place – three points clear of the drop zone - after a run of four straight defeats. Wolves are just one point and one place above the Hammers in the table.

"I am not pleased at all to see the team in this situation, and it is not the first time I have said that," admitted Zola. "But in these moments you have to keep your composure, you have to do the right things and not get emotional because you do not improve the situation."

West Ham played well in parts in the 2-0 defeat by 10-man Arsenal at the Emirates last Saturday, where Alessandro Diamanti missed a penalty and the chance to equalise after Gunners defender Thomas Vermaelen had been sent off.

"If we manage to maintain the same performance over 90 minutes which we managed in the first half against Arsenal, I am very confident," said Zola. "We looked very good in the first half, so hopefully we are going to be doing that for 90 minutes on Tuesday.

"The players did not look like they had lost confidence, they were playing against one of the best teams in Europe and played some good football.

"We will go into the Wolves game in good shape."

After facing Wolves at Upton Park in midweek, the Hammers play another home match against Stoke next Saturday.

"Our next two games will tell us a lot, especially the next one when we are playing against a team who are more or less in the same position as us. It will be massive," added Zola.

Zola should be able to recall Scott Parker after the West Ham skipper missed the match at Arsenal with a leg injury.

Wolves have taken four points from their last two matches – a 3-1 win at Burnley and 2-2 draw at local rivals Aston Villa, where they led until eight minutes from time.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy was been able to pick the same starting eleven for the sixth successive game at Aston Villa.

McCarthy said: "My team selections always seem to cause plenty of debate! And now I've kept the same for six matches.

"Of course it helps to name an unchanged team. That luxury wasn't available to me earlier in the season. For example David Jones was injured up until Christmas. It's also helped that we're now getting results.

"It's four points from two games but I'll tell you how good a week it has been on Tuesday. It's certainly a good effort so far."

Wolves' American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann believes the Midlanders are hitting form at just the right moment, but still need to battle for points to safeguard their Premier League status.

"Are we safe? No, another 10 points and we are safe." said Hahnemann. "But the good thing is we are playing well at the right times. We had our bad luck at the beginning of the season.

"Everything has been going well recently, and we're playing really good stuff. That is the important thing."

The two sides last met on the opening day of the season back in August at Molineux when West Ham won 2-0, with goals from Mark Noble and Matthew Upson.