Jan: “We’re sticking together”

Jan Vertonghen has seen it all - and he’s confident we can turn our form around.

The defender stated ‘it’s all to play for’ in terms of our challenge for Champions League qualification via the Premier League and our Champions League Round of 16 tie against RB Leipzig. We travel to Germany on Tuesday (8pm UK) trailing 1-0 from the first leg against the Bundesliga challengers.

First up, a tricky trip to in-form Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday (5.30pm) and the next chance to halt a sticky run in what has been a tough couple of weeks.

“We still have the top four, top five to play for and the Champions League,” said Jan, who racked up his 310th appearance for us against Norwich City in the FA Cup on Wednesday.

“We have a big tie on Tuesday. It’s still everything to play for in the Champions League.

“We can turn it around. Okay, the form is not there, but we have the quality. Hopefully we can find the spirit to turn the form around and I’m sure we will.

“We know we have problems to solve but we’re sticking together. The mentality is good.”

One area Jan is determined to improve collectively is close to home... “It’s definitely a factor that we don’t keep enough clean sheets and concede too many goals just now,” he conceded. “That’s not just last week, it’s since the start of the season, maybe more than a year ago. It’s a problem we need to solve, and we know that.”