Aitor Karanka says it is important that Middlesbrough continue to believe that they belong in the Premier League.

Boro were beaten 1-0 by Watford at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday to suffer their fourth loss in their past five outings, following an unbeaten start to life back in the top flight.

Following an undeserved result, Karanka spoke of the importance of his players maintaining the belief that they are good enough to match it in England's premier division.

"I know for everybody it is not a nice moment, but we are in the Premier League, we are in October, so we have to be positive because we have a strong group of players, so we have to keep going," said the Spaniard.|

"If we don't believe ourselves, who can believe in us?"

Jose Holebas scored the only goal of the game with a rasping left-footed drive on 54 minutes to send Boro down to 17th as the Hornets hovered up to 10th.