Pablo Zabaleta needed to alter his mindset when joining West Ham United from perennial Premier League challengers Manchester City on a free transfer in 2017.

The former Argentina international arrived in East London with two top-flight winners’ among his luggage following nine successful years at the Etihad Stadium.

In fact, Pablo Zabaleta played for four club teams in a fine career – San Lorenzo, Espanyol, Man City and West Ham United – while only failing to secure silverware at the latter.

What the Hammers lacked in that department, however, they made up for in other areas.

Where will West Ham finish this season? 📈 And who will be relegated? ⬇️

Mind the gap, Tottenham Hotspur 😂

Manchester City hero Pablo Zabaleta loved life at West Ham United

Zabaleta bid farewell to West Ham in 2020 after three years and 80 appearances under Slaven Bilic, David Moyes and Manuel Pellegrini.

He finished between 10th and 16th in all three of those campaigns, though the World Cup finalist has nothing but good things to say about a club he hopes to see start next season as a Premier League side once again.

“Obviously, it was a different team, a different club [compared to Manchester City],” Zabaleta says. “It’s not that easy when you come from a club where you start a season thinking about winning trophies or dominating 90 per cent of the games.

“But obviously, when I went to West Ham, it was always one of those clubs that, going to London and playing against them, you’d say, ‘Wow, it’s always tough’. Especially in the old ground!

“It was a great atmosphere and great fans.”

Zabaleta fondly remebers the Hammers fans and London life

Zabaleta had come up against West Ham on numerous occasions as a Man City player. His suspicions about an impassioned fanbase were quickly proven true. The advantages of living in London also appealed to him.

“For me, I was 33. I wanted to go to a club where I could enjoy probably the end of my career in a club where you don’t play every three days,” adds Zabaleta, who now works as an assistant to another ex-Man City full-back in Slyvinho for the Albanian national team.

“Coming from Manchester to London for my family, it was a different city with more activities to do after football. Sometimes at a different stage of your career, you look not only for yourself but also for the family.

“It was great. I spent three years there. Obviously, there were tough moments where we found ourselves fighting not to get relegated, and from Monday to Friday, it was like, ‘Come on lads, huge game, we need to get the three points.’

“I played under Bilic, David Moyes, and Manuel Pellegrini, who I knew from my time at Man City.

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“I was right about the fans. They always filled that London Stadium with 60,000 fans every home game. East London is all about West Ham. I used to live in Canary Wharf, and walking around that area, you could see West Ham shirts everywhere. They have a very good fan base.”

Current head coach Nuno Espirito Santo is demanding West Ham keep the momentum going against Crystal Palace on Monday, having smashed four goals past Wolves without reply to climb above Tottenham into 17th last time out.

“I hope they stay in the Premier League,” Zabaleta admits. “It’s a difficult season for them, but they’ve been good recently. They won some important games.

“I wish all the best to them because I still know people there; [Jarrod] Bowen, [Tomas] Soucek. They won the Conference League, an international trophy for them, which has been incredible.

“Every big club deserves to be in the Premier League. I say ‘big club’ because they are one of those clubs that players love to go and play for because of London, the big stadium, and they’ve won trophies recently.”