STRIKER Ashley Barnes says the players must take responsibility for the precarious Premier League position Burnley find themselves in.

An eight-point gap to safety with just three games to go means the Clarets could be relegated on Saturday, even if they manage to beat Hull City.

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Wins for relegation rivals Sunderland, Aston Villa, Leicester and Newcastle would render Burnley’s result immaterial.

Sean Dyche’s side go into their final three fixtures at the foot of the table after winning just one of their last 14 games, albeit against last season’s champions Manchester City.

But having gone six games without scoring, the last four of which have ended in 1-0 defeats, and ending two out of their last three games with 10 men, Barnes admits he and his team-mates must shoulder the blame for their Premier League dream “slipping away”.

“We’ve shot ourselves in the foot again,” he said of their narrow loss at West Ham United, where they played for more than an hour a man down.

“Yes things have gone against us, of course, but you can’t just look at that, you’ve got to look at yourselves and take it from there.

“We should have won, it was a must-win game, we all knew that and I just feel dejection.

“As a group of players we need to step up to the mark.”

Barnes, who brought a save from goalkeeper Adrian with a first-half header on his return from suspension, feels ending their goal drought against West Ham would have brought a positive outcome, even with their one-man deficit.

“I still thought we battered them throughout the game but we just couldn’t get the goal,” he said.

“There was a save from my header and I should have scored a header just before I came off, which I was disappointed by, but these things happen.

“If my header goes in it could be a completely different game and we could go on and win it.

“It’s not for the want of trying. It’s just that devastation that we know it’s coming close to that... it’s slipping away from our own hands, and we’re the only ones to blame for that.

“Silly mistakes have cost us, like my sending off the other week and then Duffo’s on Saturday.

“It was a penalty, make no mistake, but it was harsh to send him off. But we have to move on.”

Barnes, who returned from suspension to face the Hammers following his sending off at Everton two games ago, added: “I still thought throughout the game we were going to get a goal for sure, but it just wasn’t to be.

“It’s hard to take.

“It’s slipping out of our hands but we need to pull it back and win the next three now.

“We’ll have to pick ourselves up for a massive game at Hull.

“It’s going to be a massive uphill battle but it’s one that we won’t give up on yet.

“We’ll have a good week in training and we’ll give it our all.”