Hibs midfielder Zemmama up for battle in final run-in to league

The little Moroccan watched from the stand on Saturday as the Easter Road side got back to winning ways, following a run of five league matches without a victory.

Bagging all three points against Kilmarnock at the weekend saw Hibs move back into third place in the table – even if only for 24 hours until Dundee United leapfrogged them once again.

Zouma, though, says his side have worked far too hard to throw away their chance of a place in the Europa League qualifiers at this late stage in the campaign.

And, insisting that he wants to be involved in every single one of the remaining games of the season, he said: "It is a dream of any player to play in the Europa League or the Champions League and I am no different. That is what we all want from this season and it would be good if we could achieve that this year because we have got quality players here and a great manager, too.

"We are all working together to do that. We have put everything into our season and we don't want to let all of that hard work go to waste.

"Playing in Europe is a big stage for us, it would be good experience for everyone at the club and hopefully we can achieve that.

"It was a very good three points at the weekend because we had not won in the five games before that. The final five games in the league will be very difficult ones for us because we will be up against the best sides in the table so I think that we have to get as many points as we can before then.

"We have not played as well as we can lately, the weather has been very bad in the last few weeks and the pitch has been bad because of that. But we cannot use the pitch as an excuse because it is the same for both teams."

Zouma missed the game against Killie at the weekend with a tight hamstring but is hopeful he can return to the team in time for their Scottish Cup quarter-final tie with First Division Ross County on Saturday.

He continued: "I felt my hamstring a bit tight in training on Tuesday and we didn't want to risk it but I have been working very hard this week and I hope that I am ready in time for the game against Ross County on Saturday.

"I am hoping that will be the case, but I have to wait and see. You have got to be careful with an injury like that and I don't want to come back too soon and then be out for a month or maybe even longer than that.

"There are ten games left and I want to be part of every single one of them. I will try my best, speak to the doctor and the physios and see what I can do.

"There is nothing that I can do about it, these injuries are part of football and I just have to do my best."

The midfielder, like his countryman Abdessalam Benjelloun, has been linked with a move away from Easter Road in the summer but insisted today that he is more than happy to continue his career in Edinburgh.

Zouma says he will forever be grateful to Hibs for the way that they allowed him to play his football in Dubai last year to spend time with his wife and baby son after red tape prevented them from moving to Britain to be with him.

The player, who has one year left to run on his current contract, conceded that he does not know for certain where he will be playing his football next season but stressed: "I am happy here and I will give everything that I have got for the club because they have been very good with me.

"They helped me to spend last year in Dubai so that I could be with my wife and my son.

"I want to give them everything back this year and so it would be good for us if we could win the Scottish Cup and qualify for Europe as well.

"I am always happy with Hibs because it is like my family and I enjoy it here but if there is something interesting for the club and for me, then we will deal with it then.

"All I want to do right now is to focus on the next few weeks and make sure that we get Hibs as high up the league table as we possibly can."