EDDIE Howe has challenged his Burnley players to break Middlesbrough’s resilient home record.

Although Tony Mowbray’s side have drawn the most amount of home games in the Championship, they have lost only once at the Riverside this season.

Up until a late defeat in their last league game, after surrendering their lead with 10 men against Leeds United, the Clarets had been one of the form teams in the Championship thanks to six wins from seven.

And that is the kind of run Howe has backed his side to rediscover as they focus on their league progress following their FA Cup exit at Norwich last weekend.

“Teams give Middlesbrough a lot of respect when they go there. They've been watertight at the back and haven't conceded many goals of late, or all season.

“With (Marvin) Emnes coming back fit they've got a strong front line. We will give them a lot of respect, but we know that on the run of form we've had in the league we should go there with confidence.

“With the attacking players we've got I'm sure they'll be looking at us knowing they're going to get a tough game,” said the Burnley manager, who named a trio of strikers - Jay Rodriguez, Martin Paterson and Charlie Austin - in his starting 11 last week.

Seven of Boro’s home games have ended in a draw, while Burnley have yet to tie away this season.

It has been all or nothing for the Clarets, and Howe continued: “We go to win away games. We always set out to win.

“The amount of games we've lost has disappointed me. I certainly don't enjoy losing and I think, if you go through them, we should have drawn and got points from those and we haven't – Leeds being another one we should have definitely got points from.

“I do feel we've been slightly unlucky in that respect with the late goals we've conceded.

“But we do try to win games and we try to be positive. Three points for a win is very attractive and we try to go for it. But it's important we don't lose (today) and we return home with something and look forward to our next home game.”

Although the Clarets have struggled to turn Turf Moor into a fortress this season, their away record is bettered only by second placed West Ham and fourth placed Middlesbrough in the division.

Hull City have the same amount of points from their travels - winning five and drawing three - but have played a game more.

“I think we've done well away from home compared to other sides. That is all down to winning games,” said Howe, whose side have won six and lost six.

“If we could have added some draws to that we'd be a lot healthier. That's something we need to look at especially conceding late goals on the road, which have really hurt us.

“We are where we are for a reason, we've got to learn from the defeats and try to make sure we're always progressing because I do believe we've come a long way as a team. I still feel we've got a long way to go but we want to continue to improve.”

Howe added: “We have to take things out of the Norwich game that we feel we could have done better, and the things we did well, but definitely don't dwell on it. I certainly haven't. I'm really looking back on our league form from the last six or seven games and trying to take a lot of confidence from that.

“We should have got something from the Leeds game and there were so many positives to take from that. We're definitely not going into the game in a negative frame of mind. We're very positive.

“I don't think we've got anything to fear and I think we've got everything to gain. I certainly hope the players feel the same way and we go there with confidence and have a right go.”