West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola paid tribute to forward Alessandro Diamanti and admitted his fellow Italian reminded him of himself.

West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola paid tribute to forward Alessandro Diamanti and admitted his fellow Italian reminded him of himself.

The former Livorno forward has been in terrific form of late and was the sponsors man of the match against Hull in the 3-0 win at Upton Park on Saturday.

"I think he has got something of me. Sometimes he does the unpredictable things, and he also does some unpredictable mistakes, as I used to," the boss said.

"In Italy he used to play second striker or behind the two strikers in the hole and he didn't work very hard defensively, but if you see him now he works very hard and it is massive for the team."

Zola was keen to praise Diamanti and paid tribute to the amount of effort he puts in on the pitch and not just his flashes of creative brilliance.

"What has surprised me about him is that his work-rate has been fantastic. He is helping the team and he is playing also in a position where he has never played," Zola said.

"I know he can provide something special for us at any moment. It is important to have a player like that, because the other team have to be on their toes at every moment and that is a big thing.