Burnley defender Ben Mee expects the Championship promotion race to go down to the wire this season.
Burnley defender feels automatic promotion is not out of reach
Burnley defender Ben Mee expects the Championship promotion race to go down to the wire this season.
The Clarets currently lie in 10th, but sit just four points off the play-off positions and nine behind second-placed Southampton after losing 2-0 to the Saints at the weekend.
The 22-year-old, who completed a permanent switch to Turf Moor from Manchester City in January following a successful loan period, believes that anything can happen from now until the end of the season.
"I think that it will be tight all the way this year because every team has proven that they can beat another on their day," Mee told
Sky Sports.
Ridiculously tight
"It isn't like the Premier League where a few sides run away with it in the end, despite it being quite close at the moment.
"The Championship is ridiculously tight this season and I don't think that will change come the end of the year, so the last few games could decide everything really.
"We just want to be around the top six and be in a position to make a final push and be in with a chance of the play-offs, or even automatics because we are only nine points off them when you look at it.
"Anything can happen at this stage of the season and we aren't ruling anything out, so hopefully we can keep picking up points to make something happen come May."
The Clarets have recovered from a slow start to the season to be in with a chance of a top-six finish and Mee insists that it has been a learning curve for the club's young squad.
He added: "The results have improved massively as the season has progressed and the events in the summer seemed to hamper the early stages of the campaign.
"We've come together and made ourselves a tough side to beat, with the Derby game last month proving that because they came to the Turf and went away delighted with a draw, which for a side pushing for the play-offs themselves speaks volumes.
"There are a lot of young guys at the club, so maybe we needed a bit of time to gel, but we seem to be going in the right direction now and we just need to keep it going for the rest of the season."
