SOUTHGATE CAN HANDLE THE PRESSURE

Southgate - remains confident.

Gareth Southgate insists he will feel no pressure as he sends his side out to fight for their Premier League lives against Portsmouth.

The Teessiders head into Saturday's game at the Riverside Stadium perched precariously just above the drop zone after successive defeats by Bolton and Sunderland, but equally well aware that victory over the FA Cup finalists will end their fears of being sucked into the morass below them.

Just a few short weeks ago, Boro looked to have eased themselves away from trouble with a victory over Derby and impressive draws at Aston Villa, Arsenal and Spurs and at home against title contenders Manchester United.

However, they have faltered as derby rivals Newcastle and Sunderland have eased their way up the table and Fulham and Bolton have launched desperate rearguard actions to leave nerves frayed on Teesside.

With Manchester City to follow Pompey to the Riverside on the final day of the campaign, Southgate knows the club's destiny in its own hands.

But until they cross the finishing line - they are currently four points better off than 18th-placed Birmingham - he knows all eyes will be on them, and that brings its own pressures.

Southgate said: "It's just part of the job. The only pressure you feel is what you put on yourself, really.

"You are conscious that everybody else is watching and that our fans are expecting and needing you to deliver, but really nobody puts more pressure on you than the individual themselves.

"If you can live with the pressure you put on yourself, you will be fine."

The former England defender is well qualified to talk about the nitty-gritty of a relegation fight having experienced the drop as a player with Crystal Palace in 1993.

That season, the Eagles went down despite collecting 49 points, and the emotions Southgate went through that day remain vivid.

He said: "I don't know if the pain of past experiences drives you on, you are just driven to try to achieve things regardless.

"You are always stronger for every experience you go through in life.

"I want to achieve things for the club here and for the chairman who has given me an opportunity.

"Experiences from the past help you, but they are not the things that galvanise you at this moment in time."

Southgate acknowledges that his big players need to come to the fore once again this weekend, and England winger Stewart Downing would certainly be counted among them.

The 23-year-old is the club's leading scorer this season with eight goals, and as a lifelong fan of the club, perhaps feels the disappointment of their under-achievement even more keenly than some of his team-mates.

He said: "I remember when we were in around 11th and 12th and we weren't playing that well, so imagine if we could put a run together and we could easily get into the top seven, eight.

"I have always said we should be a top-seven team, so that should be our aim next season.

"The disappointing thing is we have played well against the top teams - if we had kept playing how we did against them, we would have been a lot higher than we are.

"It has been disappointing really. It has been an inconsistent season, so that is one thing we have to improve upon massively."

Boro hope to be able to welcome back keeper Mark Schwarzer and striker Jeremie Aliadiere from back and leg injuries respectively as they attempt to bring a difficult campaign to a satisfactory conclusion.

Only then will Southgate and his players reflect on what has gone wrong.