Boro still have fighting chance, says midfielder Clayton

Middlesbrough’s Premier League future may look bleak after Monday’s defeat at Arsenal, but Adam Clayton insists they still believe they can survive the drop.

The Teesiders sit six points from safety with six games to go, but they have not won a Premier League match since December and have scored just 23 league goals.

To make matters worse, their run-in is far from simple with top-flight heavyweights Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea still to play after their 2-1 loss to the Gunners.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

That makes their next two clashes, against Bournemouth and Sunderland, must-win matches if they are to stand any chance of escaping – and Clayton says they will give it all they have.

“No-one’s blown us away this season, we’ve competed with every team,” he said.

“But maybe that’s been the story of the season a little bit – we’ve given everything but not been able to put the points on the board.

“That’s down to us, we need to win a few of those narrow 1-0 or 2-1 games. Three points changes everything.

“We’ll keep going until we can’t do otherwise, we’ve got to go to Bournemouth and give our all like we did [on Monday].

“We still believe we can turn it around.”