'It's been fine margins for a while'
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany feels they are "running out of games" to save their Premier League season.
The Clarets, who sit 19th in the table, face bottom-side Sheffield United on Saturday.
It is seen as a must-win game for both of the promoted sides if they are to keep their slim hopes alive of avoiding an immediate return to the Championship.
"If you were to draw a line and restart the league almost at this calendar year, I think this team is on the way to becoming hopefully an interesting proposition for this league," Kompany said.
"But we're running out of games so it has to happen in the next [five].
"We're still nowhere near getting the results we think we could. The games are decided in the final third and it's been on a knife-edge. That's where you want it because it gives us a chance.
"[Since] the start of the season we've had valuable additions in January, we've recovered a few players as well. It's been fine margins for a while now, that's the nature of the league."
Kompany's side have not left the relegation zone all campaign after a slow start, but they have picked up some form recently having lost only one of their past six.
"The biggest thing for me is this season, the amount of times at the end of the game we're sat in the staff room and looked at ourselves and said 'How did we not come away with a win or a point?"' he added.
"That's been the season. We can pin it down to some key moments. But we can look back as much as we want. It's about the five games in front of us."
