Downing hopeful Middlesbrough can avoid Premier League drop

REUTERS - Middlesbrough midfielder Stewart Downing is confident the club can avoid relegation from the Premier League this season despite a daunting run of end-season fixtures.

Middlesbrough, the league's lowest scorers with 22 goals, lie second from bottom in the table, six points adrift of safety after a goalless draw against Burnley on Saturday extended their winless streak to 14 league games.

"100 percent there's belief, 100 percent. Other teams are still losing, we get a point -- I know we're a point closer and we could have done with three, but there's a long way to go yet, a lot of twists and turns," Downing told British media.

Boro's remaining seven matches include home games against sixth-placed Arsenal and fourth-placed Manchester City and away fixtures at league leaders Chelsea and Liverpool who sit third in the table.

They drew against Arsenal and Manchester City and narrowly lost to Chelsea earlier this season, and Downing is hoping for a repeat of those solid performances when they face those teams again.

"We have got big teams to come here, but do they fancy coming here? Well, we'll soon find out. We generally play well against the top teams, so I'm looking forward to it," Downing said.

"It's a big challenge, we know that, we know what we need to do, so we just carry on and the positives from today we take into the Arsenal game."

Middlesbrough, who have just three wins at the Riverside Stadium this season, host Arsenal on April 17.

(Reporting by Aditi Prakash in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Lough)