West Bromwich Albion of England centre back, Semi Ajayi and Fulham full-back, Ola Aina are both expressing strong levels of hope for survival by their respective clubs in the English Premier League, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although both West Brom and Fulham appear with slim chances of escaping the drop at the end of the current campaign, Ajayi and Aina are both staying upbeat that they will be able to help their respective teams win their survival battles.
Ajayi’s side, who have collected just three wins all season, find themselves 10 points adrift of 17th place and, with 10 games remaining in the season, intense drama is increasing at the foot of the table, but the former Rotterham United stopper is staying positive for The Baggies.
Portsmouth and West Ham United went on to secure survival from similar positions in 2006 and 2007 respectively, memories of which have made Ajayi hopeful that his 19th-placed side can also haul themselves out of trouble.
Ajayi told BBC Sport Africa: “It’s not easy. We are desperate right now and we need points as soon as possible. I’d say everyone’s written us off but we definitely haven’t really written ourselves off. We are still fighting, we still haven’t given up.
“We still have belief, we still have hope and it’s just about taking one game at a time. Giving our maximum and we’ll see where that takes us. Hopefully that will keep us in the premier league but we definitely haven’t given up.”
Incidentally, Aina’s Fulham, who are currently two points below Newcastle United and three off Brighton, are the other promoted side in a battle for survival, even as The Cottagers appeared doomed early in the season and the 17th-placed side suffered a home loss against Leeds United in the last match before the break.
It was their third defeat in four games, but Aina is banking on a recent burst of revival that gave his side an opportunity to move out of the relegation zone for the first time since December, and the dark-skinned former England youth international, who has previously played for Chelsea and Hull City, believes The Cottagers will escape the drop.
Aina, who is on loan at Craven Cottage from AS Torino of Italy, added: “It gets tough sometimes, but it’s a challenge that I embrace. Obviously, it’s approaching the end of the season now with nine games left.
“Naturally, it starts to become a bit of a panic for most, but I think Fulham are in a good space. We have a good team and a good manager in Scott Parker, so we just have to keep going and working, and try to get the points we need.”
