The 25-year-old is in a rich vein of form at the moment with six goals in the last eight games for the Hammers, who host Manchester United on Sunday.

And with England manager Fabio Capello about to name a squad for the forthcoming friendly in Spain, a strike against the Premier League leaders could only help his cause.

Zola said: "I hope he is considered because he is a very good player and he is not yet at the top of his game.

"He can still improve. He is working hard every day and getting more confident and if he plays for England it will be good for him and for England.

"I'm not the one who can tell Capello what to do because he knows more about football than I do, but I am sure he will be considering him."

Whether Capello gives Cole a chance remains to be seen, however, as Sunday's clash will be only his 150th game as a professional and the former Chelsea trainee, who played alongside Zola at Stamford Bridge, has just 26 career goals to his name.

Zola is confident, however, that those totals would soon be rising.

He said: "His attitude has changed. When he was at Chelsea he was very young and it was difficult for him to get a chance.

"Now he has realised he has a big opportunity. He needed to become more convinced about himself and become a problem for the opposition. He is getting better and better.

"A successful player is the one that knows where he has to get and Carlton Cole has all the attributes to be a winner."

United will arrive in the capital on a remarkable run of form that has seen goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar keep 12 successive clean sheets in league action, eclipsing Steve Death's 31-year-old English record for Reading.

The Dutchman, with 1,122 minutes unbeaten to his name, now has the 1,196-minute British record held by Chris Woods in his sights, but Zola is convinced his side's own eight-game unbeaten streak can be extended.

He said: "I watched some videos of United and spotted some things that can be good for us.

"We give them a lot of respect but we can cause them problems. Everyone has weaknesses and it's up to us to exploit that. We are very confident right now."

The Hammers have made left-back Herita Ilunga's loan move from Toulouse permanent by agreeing a £2million fee but no contract will be offered to Zola's former Chelsea team-mate Sam Dalla Bona, who is a free agent.

Zola said: "He might train with us to stay fit but he is not going to be our signing."