Bilic not to blame for West Ham slump, says Fonte

(Reuters) - West Ham United defender Jose Fonte has said it is the players, not manager Slaven Bilic, who must shoulder the blame for a slump that has left the club just six points above the Premier League drop zone.

West Ham lost their fourth consecutive league game on Saturday after Hull City came from behind to win 2-1 at the KCOM stadium, forcing the club's owners to issue a statement saying they had "100 percent faith" in the manager.

"We are all behind him obviously," Fonte told Sky Sports, adding that the players had to take responsibility.

"The players are the ones on the pitch, so we have got to come up with the goods and help not only the manager but ourselves and make the fans proud."

West Ham, who are currently 14th and have failed to register a league win since early February, visit Arsenal on Wednesday.

"A couple of wins will get you safe, or three wins, but if you don't win the next two or three games you are in a dogfight," the 33-year-old Portuguese international added.

"We have to change that and to start we have a big game against Arsenal on Wednesday and we have to get something out of that."

(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)