Hull City boss Marco Silva has called on his side to take a long, hard look at themselves after a loss to fellow relegation rivals Leicester City left them four points from safety.

Sam Clucas put Hull ahead early on but goals from Riyad Mahrez and Christian Fuchs, and a late own goal by Tom Huddlestone, took the game beyond Hull.

The damaging defeat, and with just one league win in their last six outings, increases the significance of next weekend’s clash with Swansea City at the KC Stadium.

And manager Silva believes the Tigers must focus on themselves before they can rely on the sides around them to drop points.

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“First we need to look for our work and our games – it is our focus to take points from our games, then after we can see the table and the other results,” Silva said.

“But first off all we need to look at ourselves.

“Of course it was not a good result for us. Like I expected before it was a very fast game during the 90 minutes.

“Leicester started strong and we tried to answer in the same level and put some counter-attacks to cause problems for them.

“The game was then really very balanced again – but then with one good shot outside of the box led to a good goal by Leicester. We reacted very well again but of course when you have good chances in the game you have to score.”

It has been a tough four months for Stoke City midfielder Geoff Cameron, and the USA international admits he is just happy to be playing again after helping the Potters erase memories of their 4-0 loss at Tottenham last week by beating Middlesbrough.

Cameron started in central midfield and added some much-needed bite and energy as the Potters eased to a comfortable 2-0 win courtesy of Marko Arnautovic’s double.

Cameron had not started a game since October due to a knee injury – which required two operations.

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But now he hopes to make up for lost time and help Mark Hughes’ side secure a fourth consecutive top-half finish.

“It’s been a long four months but I’m just happy to get some minutes under my belt and obviously with the 2-0 result,” he said.

“Hopefully we can just keep kicking on.

“There were some dark moments and frustration for sure. I didn’t know if I was going to play again this season or not so I’m just happy to have come back and been able to kick a ball.

“I wasn’t expecting to start today, just to be involved and hopefully get some minutes – fortunately enough I started and lasted 90 minutes.

“I’ll be sore tomorrow but I’ll do all the recovery and take on all the stuff for my system.”

Andre Gray has not set the world alight since arriving in the Premier League but Burnley boss Sean Dyche believes the striker is good enough to play for England.

Gray struck twice at Swansea City to take his goal tally to nine for the campaign, but the Clarets conceded a late winner to Fernando Llorente – handing the Welsh side a priceless 3-2 win.

With the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Wayne Rooney all struggling for first-team football at their clubs, England boss Gareth Southgate may be forced to look further afield for his next international squad.

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And Dyche sees no reason why Gray cannot force his way into Southgate’s plans.

“There’s only so many active English centre forwards,” said Dyche. “The No.1 in my opinion is Harry Kane at the moment. I think he’s been outstanding for his all-round game, but there’s only so many.

“So it’s fair to say if you are an active centre forward in the Premier League you would at least be thought of because that’s the national side’s job, to make sure they monitor the players who are out there.

“I still think he’s (Gray) got things he can learn, he’s still improving, I still think he’s getting used to the realities of the Premier League, because it’s not easy.

“But he is a player who is improving. That’s a thing I’m big on here. Whether he’s ready for England, that’s for other people to decide.”

Crystal Palace may have secured a major victory in their fight against relegation but West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Pulis says his side made it easy for the Londoners.

Second-half goals from Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend saw West Brom lose for just the second time since Boxing Day – though they remain eighth in the Premier League.

The Baggies have been one of the surprise stories of this campaign, with boardroom unrest and frustrated fans creating an unhealthy atmosphere on the eve of the season and a relegation fight expected.

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But Pulis has steered his club to the magic 40-point mark and he hopes to secure a top-half finish for the first time in his career.

However, he needs to ensure his players don’t take their foot off the gas in the remaining 11 games.

“I put it down to us,” he said. “I don’t think any of our players played to the level they could have.

“Our players have been fantastic this year. We’ve had a great season so far.

“We just have to make sure we continue doing that. I put it down to, hopefully, one of those games. I’ve just been asked why. If I knew why I’d be a genius because all week they’ve trained well.”

Aitor Karanka says now is not the time to panic after Middlesbrough fell into the relegation zone.

The Teesiders slumped to a toothless 2-0 loss at Stoke City – with a first-half double from Marko Arnautovic enough to condemn Karanka’s men to a 13th Premier League defeat.

Fans’ frustration with Karanka has been building gradually since the turn of the year, with Boro securing just four wins all season and scoring a lacklustre 19 goals from 27 games.

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Results went against them this weekend, with Swansea City, Crystal Palace and Leicester City all securing vital wins and Bournemouth snatching a point at Old Trafford.

Boro now have a two-week break from league action as they tackle Manchester City in the FA Cup, but they next face Manchester United at the Riverside Stadium.

But Karanka says now is the time to be positive as they try to turn their season around.

“In this kind of moment we need to be positive. We have to know we have done good things so far,” he said.

“We have to keep believing in this group of players. Until the last day we will keep fighting.

“We are in the bottom three and we need to work harder to leave those positions.”

Midfielder Ross Barkley is targeting silverware with Everton after the club started 2017 with seven Premier League games without defeat.

Everton won all three of their league games in January and were victorious in two of their four Premier League fixtures in February.

And Barkley is determined to continue his own and Everton’s improvements over the past few months to start winning titles.

He said: “I haven’t won anything yet and I want to win things. In my young days I was constantly winning trophies for Everton and England (youth teams), that’s something I want.

“Not what I have earned, I want to be remembered as a winner. That’s why I play football, to win things.”

“I knew that I wasn’t doing as well as I should have been. I went away and worked hard on my game and put in a lot of fitness work to get to a better level.

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“Now I feel like I’m putting in better performances and much more confident on the pitch.

“The team is doing well, too. The fans see that all the team is performing well, digging in with goals and assists. Everyone seems to be enjoying their football.

“The way we have been playing since Christmas, we’ve gone on an unbelievable run. We are unbeaten at the start of 2017. You see in training with all the lads that we look like a proper team.”

Fabio Borini insists Sunderland will rely on hard-work and effort over flamboyant football as they attempt to get out of the Premier League relegation zone.

The striker is confident that hard work and simple football will prove enough, as it has in previous seasons, to get them out of trouble once again.

With Crystal Palace winning on Saturday, the Black Cats head into their game against Manchester City six points adrift of safety.

“We’re Sunderland. We can’t play like Barcelona, and no one expects us to play like Barcelona because we’re not,” he said.

“We have to do what we did in the past few years, which is get out of where we are. We showed how much desire and effort we had to stay in the Premier League, and we need to do that again.

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“You can look at last season, especially because we were not playing rocket-science football – it was simple, direct football to stay up.

“It was the effort we put up on the defensive side with the clean sheet to stay up. We have to do the same.

“Every time we stayed up in the past few years, it has been down to what we have done ourselves on the pitch by working together and sacrificing for one another.  That’s what kept us up – not the unbelievable football we played.”

There may be clear daylight between Chelsea and the Premier League’s chasing pack but Cesc Fabregas insists his side will never rest on their laurels while Antonio Conte is in charge.

In his first season, the Italian has masterminded a Chelsea reboot – from their miserable tenth-placed finish last year to a lead that is fast looking unassailable with 12 games to go.

Fabregas is one of the players enjoying a resurgence under Conte but the Spain international says the team do not believe in their own hype.

“(Conte’s) very demanding in that he wants to win,” Fabregas explained. “He puts the word ‘win’ in our brain nearly every day – win, win, win. Improve, improve, improve.

“That’s a mentality we have to follow. That’s very important. In football you can be the best in the world, you can play with the best in the world, you can have played 1000 games or scored 1000 goals, but the most beautiful thing about football is that you can always improve.

“You are doing what you love. Obviously there are hard moments. Not everything is fantastic. You have to be ready for that, but there is something about the ups and downs football gives you that is the reason why we love this sport so much.”

Eddie Howe expects Bournemouth goalkeeper Artur Boruc to stay at the club until after the end of the season.

The Polish stopper turned in a stellar display as the Cherries clung on for an unlikely 1-1 draw at Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United on Saturday.

Marcus Rojo gave the home side the lead before Josh King levelled for Howe’s side from the spot.

The Red Devils peppered the Bournemouth goal, but Boruc pulled off a string of top class saves, including one low to his right from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s penalty.

Boruc’s contract expires in the summer, but Howe insists he is not worried about the ongoing situation and expects the goalkeeper to stay at Vitality Stadium.

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“His future will be settled, he’s got no problems,” said Howe.

“At the time we signed him, we were in the lower reaches of the Championship and our turn in form coincided with Artur’s arrival.

“For me, he was a massive part of our promotion push.

“You need a good goalkeeper winning you points and making saves. He did all those things. And as I said last year, he and Adam Federici played a key role in keeping us up.

“For a team like ourselves who are relatively inexperienced at the level, with our promotion being a season ago, a player like him is invaluable in the dressing room.”

West Ham’s season has been turbulent to say the least, but manager Slaven Bilic claims he wouldn’t change it for the world.

The Hammers controversially left their historic home at Upton Park for the London Stadium at the start of the campaign and early results weren’t promising.

Despite finishing seventh in the Premier League last term, relegation this time around appeared a distinct possibility, with the club in the bottom three as recently as early December.

But West Ham have been on the up ever since and now lie nicely in the top half of the table, ahead of the visit of Chelsea on Monday.

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And Bilic insists the adversity has only made his troops stronger.

“I consider this season as a great one – for me individually, for the team, and for the club,” said the Croatian.

“This season we experienced some negative things, some positive things, but mainly a lot of new things.

“I am 48 now. I was manager of my country and I was manager of Besiktas in Turkey where the pressure is basically bigger than here.

“So I got used to the job a little bit. But was it hard? Yes. It’s still hard. Of course I wasn’t enjoying the defeats but sometimes you have to sacrifice something to get something.

“They say that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

“It’s great because now I can see it as a great experience. I wouldn’t change it – when you’ve made it and you get out of that, the experience is priceless and you benefit from it in the future.

“I wouldn’t swap when I was under pressure or the team was under pressure. I wouldn’t swap it for a steady season.”