Jeremie Aliadiere feels victory over Fulham at the weekend will virtually secure Middlesbrough their Premier League place.Boro have flirted with the bottom three all season but a good run of form since the turn of the year has seen them push towards mid-table.

And French striker Aliadiere feels Boro's top-flight place will be all-but secure if they can seal victory at the Riverside against Fulham.

He said: "The next game is massive for us, if we win that - and we have to - there is a bit of a gap developing between us and the third-from-bottom team. If we get three points, we are almost safe.

"We were in a difficult position and quite a few people were saying we were destined to go down, but I think we have proved a few of those people wrong.

"We have worked for each other as a team and we have slowly, bit by bit, started climbing the league table.

"We haven't lost since January 1 and our performances, especially away from home, have got so much better.

"People have been saying we are destined to go down, but we have proved them wrong. We have shown we are a good team."

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