Burnley boss Brian Laws refuses to accept they are going down.

Laws is keeping faith with the idea that his squad can still pull off a great escape in the final five games.

"You've got to have belief in your players and I've got every belief in them," he told the Lancashire Telegraph.

"They could have sulked all the way through the second half against City and took an even worse defeat but they went out there and put their heads down and responded better. They got a bit tighter. Whether Manchester City switched off, who knows?

"But we performed better and if we'd have done that in the first half we would have been in the game and it might have been an opportunity for us to get something out of it. We're talking about six minutes in a game, and it's effectively killed it.

"We've got to make sure we don't repeat it. We have to draw on all our resources and experiences. Everyone will do that, right from the kit man through to the supporters. We will want to respond and we will try to do that in the right possible way.

"It is vitally important that win, lose or draw, we all stick together because the objective was always going to be the same. It's all about getting the mindset right and I expect a response!"