The Hammers are currently seventh in the Premier League and will get a Europa League place next season if they can hold onto it.
“We are happy with our situation (in seventh place) but we know it is going to be hard until the end. We are going to have our best try and we will see in the end if we can make it into Europe,” said Zola.
“This is a very ambitious club. West Ham has a good platform to build up something important for the future.
“We want to build it slowly and with attention. We are not big spenders but we spend the money wisely and we work hard to make it happen.
“Arsenal was one of the models this club was looking at. It is what we want to do. I think it is working OK at the moment and we want to improve. Certainly Arsenal is a team I admire very much and to do what they do is something we would like to do.
“It is going to be very difficult to be a monster like Manchester United or Arsenal because we don’t have the possibilities.
“We want to build something differently. Maybe it will be a longer-term project but one day we want to be competing with those teams.”
