Jonny Howson is desperate to get the better of old club Norwich City to revive Middlesbrough’s flagging Championship promotion hopes.

The Teessiders have lost three on the spin, ahead of the Canaries’ weekend visit, and were hammered 3-0 at Aston Villa prior to the international break.

Howson won promotion with City at Wembley in 2015, during his five-year stint, but is part of a Boro squad listing in fifth place leading a pack of six clubs separated by just three points.

“They are all big games now on this run in when you are playing for something, whether the opposition is playing for something or not,” he said, speaking to Boro’s official site.

“It tends to tighten up at the top but all we can do now is concentrate on ourselves, not what is behind us or what is in front of us.

“That means it is about us rather than Norwich.

“We needed the break, to re-group, to get back together and go again, as it is still in our hands in terms of the play-offs. But we need to turn this around very quickly.

“Our away form had been good and our home form not so good. To have had two games at home, lead in both and lose then lose at Villa is hard to stomach. It is not for the lack of trying.

“We are an honest group.

“We know when we have done well and when we haven’t but we must get back to what we were doing for large parts of the season.”

Howson has made 38 appearances this campaign, after becoming a target for the Boro boo boys following his original move from Norwich in 2017.

“It’s probably the first time in my career I’ve been singled out like that, and it is hard,” he said, speaking to the Football League Paper earlier this season. “When you care and you’re frustrated and you want to put things right, you probably try a bit too hard. Daft as it sounds, that can go against you.

“I look back on it now and I’d say it’s probably helped me. It’s made me tougher as a person. And I’m not complaining at all, by the way.

“To be honest, I know when I’m not good enough and I’m experienced enough to take stick.

“Your biggest critic should always be yourself, and I am.

“The only thing that upset me was the way it affected my family. I’m paid to take stick but they aren’t.

“My parents were up there in the stands. So were my wife and children.”