BURNLEY’S Matt Taylor has never experienced relegation from the Premier League, and has no intention of starting now.

The former Portsmouth, Bolton and West Ham midfielder is in his 12th top flight season after joining the promoted Clarets in the summer.

The 33-year-old has had some close shaves in the past, most notably Pompey at the end of the 2005/06 campaign.

With just five games to go, the Clarets go into this afternoon’s bottom three showdown with Leicester at the foot of the table, two points adrift of safety.

But Taylor insists: “We are not in a hole. That is the genuine truth. I believe that.

“You look at everything surrounding us and this football club is only looking upwards.

“As a football club we are completely stable. We’ve got the freedom to go and play. So I don’t believe we are in a hole at all, that’s my honest opinion.

“Obviously I’m under no illusions, having experienced it before, how hard it is. But we’ve got enough quality in that dressing room, coupled with the work ethic to get ourselves further up the league.”

Taylor had five Premier League seasons at Fratton Park and three with both Bolton and West Ham, before arriving at Turf Moor on a free transfer at the end of his Hammers deal.

Asked about his Premier League survival record, he added: “That’s correct. I’d like to keep that stat as well!

“If I could keep that (relegation) off my CV, that would be wonderful.

“I believe, with the players we have there, there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be the case.

“Character, belief desire, a will to win - we’ve got all of that in spades here. We understand that we’re in a precarious position but to be brutally honest no-one gave us a chance this season anyway.

“The dressing-room here is very good. It’s probably the most together dressing-room we’ve had. There are no agendas, everybody is part of the team. If you’re not in the team then you support your team-mates. I’ve been in dressing-rooms where it hasn’t been that way.

“We’ll all fight for each other. We’ve got five huge games and if we pull together we’ve got a chance.”

Leicester leapfrogged Burnley last weekend, sending them to the bottom of the Premier League with victory at home to Swansea - their third win on the spin.

But Taylor does not believe that dealt a psychological blow to the team.

“I personally don’t because it is so tight down there,” he said.

“Obviously, like all footballers, we all check the results as soon as we get in after a game and you check how everyone else has done and that is human nature.

“But being on the bottom doesn’t fill me with any more pressure because it is so tight. It’s not like previous years where one team is cast adrift.

“We were in a quagmire (at Portsmouth).

“If we give up belief, what are we all playing for?”

And Taylor credited Burnley boss Sean Dyche for his role in keeping the Clarets in a positive frame of mind, on and off the pitch.

“A manager saying he has 100 per cent faith in you and telling you to go and play with freedom, from a player’s point of view what more could you ask for?,” he said.

“You are being given freedom within a structured game plan to go and play and he genuinely means it. He tells you what he has told us as a squad.”