Zola watched Bellamy shine in his side's 2-2 draw with Newcastle at St James' Park and sought to bring an end to speculation that he will be off-loaded as part of a rumoured Hammers fire sale.

Zola said: "I am very confident because this club is determined to improve and it's not true we want to sell our best players. The way we are playing and training this club deserves to be in a better position.

"Being a footballer I know it's not easy when you have so many words around you to concentrate and perform, but they are outstanding and I would say their performances have gone even higher in this period."

And Zola reserved special praise for the performance of Bellamy who returned to his former club and ignored the boos of the home fans to net the Hammers' opener in the first half.

Zola added: "If you see the way Craig moves about the pitch it is fantastic. He is an exemplary professional and he has performed very, very well - not only him but everybody.

"Considering the way we played I am a bit disappointed we didn't win the game but we were playing against a very good team. But I think my team deserved a little bit more than that."

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Newcastle assistant boss Chris Hughton praised Shay Given's contribution to his side's late draw and revealed there had been no new developments regarding his goalkeeper's future at the club.

Hughton said: "All we've seen of Shay is him coming in and training and conducting himself like he always has. As far as I know there has been no progress there."

And Hughton went on to reiterate his club's desire to strengthen their injury-hit squad before the end of the transfer window with a handful of top players required to extinguish the threat of relegation.

Hughton added: "We're working hard behind the scenes and we do realise we need to bring in two or three new players. We're hopeful that by the end of the transfer window we'll be able to bring them in."

Hughton professed himself reasonably happy with his side's point but admitted before the game he had had only a win in mind against the Hammers.

Hughton added: "You always want to claim three points at home but in the period when we were 2-1 down they were always a threat up front and at that point you'd probably have settled for a draw."

Meanwhile Hughton picked out Andy Carroll for his late equaliser in only his second start for the club, adding: "Andy's made a very telling contribution in the two games he's played and I was very pleased he got the goal."