West Ham United striker Mauro Zarate has told ESPN FC that the side must remain "realistic" about their chances of winning the Premier League title, but believes finishing in the top four is a possibility.
The Hammers have been one of the surprise stories in Slaven Bilic's debut campaign in charge at Upton Park as they currently sit third in the table, just two points behind league leaders Manchester City, and have raised expectations of a successful season.
The East London side added a win over reigning champions Chelsea to their list of memorable results this season at the weekend, having already beaten Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City in the opening months of the campaign.
Zarate scored the opening goal in the 2-1 win over Chelsea and the Argentine admits they have set their sights on a top-four finish and a Champions League spot.
"We can't dream about winning the title, we must be realistic," Zarate told ESPN FC. "We want to finish the championship being as high as possible in the table.
"At the moment we are in the third position and what we want to is to finish among the first four but it's a very difficult task."
Zarate added no one is getting carried away by the side's form and accepts they have to ensure they do not drop points against those teams struggling at the wrong end of the table.
"Everyone at the club is very excited, and our fans are like crazy," he said.
"We are playing very nice football and we expect to keep on doing it this way.
"We have to be aware of not losing points at home, most of all when we play against those teams that are fighting to avoid the relegation zone. If we want to be among the first teams in the positions, we can't lose points at home."
Zarate's goal against Chelsea was a landmark strike for the 28-year-old as it was his 100th career strike, and the former Birmingham City man was delighted to hit the milestone in such a big game.
"I was told by the guy that updates my personal website that with the goal that I scored against Chelsea I reached 100 goals in my career," he said. "For a striker, that is something really important.
"It was very nice to score a goal that helped the team to win against such an important team. But now we also have a very good team, at the moment we have won against all the big teams that we have played.
"Chelsea have a brilliant team, they attacked all the match, but we managed to get the victory."