Steve Bruce has called on his Hull City players to maintain their belief despite admitting Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat against Burnley has left them with “a mountain to climb” to avoid Premier League relegation.

The Tigers chief had witnessed his players dig out two huge results to win at Crystal Palace and defeat Liverpool at the KC Stadium in the final week of April.

However a 3-1 home defeat against Arsenallast Monday night was followed by a disastrous loss against a Burnley side that had their relegation confirmed after the game on Saturday despite sealing the win courtesy of Danny Ings’ strike on 62 minutes.

To make matters worse for the Tigers, relegation rivals Sunderland, Leicester and Aston Villa all won, while Newcastle’s point in a 1-1 draw against West Brom at St James’ Park was enough to leave Bruce’s men two points adrift of safety in the relegation zone with two games remaining.

Hull will have to secure at least one win from either next Saturday’s trip to Tottenham or the daunting final day visit of Manchester United.

Bruce said: “With points available, we have to believe we can get the results.

“No-one gave us a cat in hell’s chance against Palace or Liverpool, but we believe we can get a result at Tottenham next week.”

Bruce, who took Hull into the Premier League in 2013, added: “We have got to play better – but we can’t play any worse than we did against Burnley.

“Whether the occasion got to them, I’m not sure. Now we have got a mountain to climb.”

Hull, who are 140 to be relegated, can be backed at 4.75 to win at Tottenham next week, while Spurs are 1.70 and the draw is 3.75.