Manuel Pellegrini says his West Ham United players need to “continue fighting” after their loss to Arsenal left them one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

Angelo Ogbonna’s header had the Hammers looking good for a win against a lacklustre Gunners side at half-time, but a stunning nine-minute period for the hosts saw them score three times through Gabriel Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Pellegrini felt that his side should have gone on to net a second when they were in the ascendency but has now called on his side to show their determination to end the poor run they’re on.

“It is difficult to understand,” Pellegrini told the club website. “We feel we dominated the game for 60 minutes and then after that, in 10 minutes, we lost the game. Maybe we didn’t score the second goal that was so important to finish the game.

“There are a lot of different reasons to analyse. We cannot concede three goals in every game. Unfortunately for us we are doing the wrong things. We will continue believing in our squad. Maybe we are not in our best moment, but we need to continue fighting.”

The Hammers were by far the better side in the opening hour of Monday’s fixture, leaving the boss satisfied with that portion of the game, but from the moment Martinelli struck the equaliser, it seemed the fans knew what was going to occur.

Pellegrini said: “In understand the boos because in the last four or five games we’ve played here, we didn’t win. I think we were a better team than Arsenal. I can tell you there was just one team in it for 60-65 minutes. But if you don’t win at home then your fans won’t be happy.

“We must play 90 minutes rather than just the 65 minutes we did today. I can remember just one Arsenal chance when we were 1-0 up and, after that, two or three balls decided the game. We must be consistent, solid and concentrate the whole game.”

With the Hammers now dangling precariously above the relegation zone, this weekend’s visit to Southampton takes on far more importance, but Pellegrini is not overly worried about his position and says the pressure on him is no different to usual.

He said: “The pressure for me is exactly the same. If I lose, the pressure for me is to try to have a good team, to try to win every game and to try to grow with this club.

“Of course, when you don’t have the results, things are more difficult, but we must continue.”