Vincent Kompany makes unwavering claim about Burnley's survival chances ahead of must-win Fulham clash

Prior to the Man City defeat in midweek, a statistic did the rounds that only one side in Premier League history had survived with the same number of points as the Clarets at this stage of the season.

Sitting on just 12 points and seven adrift of safety, the picture certainly doesn’t look good for Kompany’s men ahead of today’s must-win clash against Fulham.

But the Clarets boss still has that belief his side can maintain their top flight status.

“That’s one more team than I would have thought,” he said. “But it wouldn’t even matter had no-one done it before, it wouldn’t change any belief or motivation in me to do it.

“It’s a similar belief to what I had as a player. We’re in a position where a couple of wins can make a massive difference, whereas when you’re at the top like we were last year one defeat can make a massive difference.

“As long as you can manage your own energy and channel it, then it’s similar in terms of pressure [to being at the top].

“Every win is just as significant. It’s more the impact of a defeat. When you’re competing with teams that rarely drop points, a couple of losses and you’re done.

“For us we can look at the impact of defeat and what it does to a group, but if you look at the opportunity of winning, that’s also something to carry forward. The opportunity to put a run together and what that could do for the club, what it could do for the league table.

“We live for those opportunities, that’s all we’re focused on. It will give us a chance, that’s what we’re working on.”

Kompany added: “I always believe we can do it. That’s literally the biggest part of my job. It’s to transmit that belief.

“I do enjoy working with this group. I suffer like they suffer when we lose, but at the end I always wake up with the feeling of ‘I want to get more’. It’s something that lives within the players and has been part of the culture as well.

“Okay you can’t just be there for the good times. When you have bad times we stick together and we go hard. We keep going.”