ADAM FORSHAW has urged his Middlesbrough team-mates to “let off the shackles” and develop a new sense of self-confidence about their place in the Premier League.

Boro entertain Watford as the domestic programme resumes this weekend, with Aitor Karanka’s side still looking for their first home victory since returning to the top-flight.

The Teessiders have not been outclassed in any of their matches so far, but a return of six points from seven games is a relatively disappointing tally and Forshaw admits there have been times when he and his team-mates have been too timid as they have sought to come to terms with their new surrounds.

They are no longer the new boys with two months of the season having been played, and with Sunday’s game pitting them against one of their rivals in the bottom half of the table, Forshaw is calling for a sense of swagger.

“I just think we need to be confident and believe that we deserve to be in the Premier League,” said Forshaw, who has started all bar one Premier League game since replacing the injured Marten de Roon on the opening day of the season. “Maybe we have to let the shackles off a little bit, puff our chests out and really make it clear that we know we deserve to be here.

“We’ve got the quality, we’ve got a great set of lads, and everything is in place for us to kick on. But maybe we need to be a bit more ruthless and a bit more confident in ourselves. Let’s puff our chests out because we’re here on merit and we’re here to stay.

“The settling in period is over now. We’ve had two international breaks and this is it now. We’re fighting for points and we want to stay in the league, so we just need to have confidence in ourselves and not be afraid to let everybody know we’re here and we mean business.”

It is six months since Boro last claimed a home victory, with Forshaw at the heart of the action as he claimed a dramatic stoppage-time winner in a 2-1 success over Reading.

The midfielder’s goal sparked wild scenes at the Riverside, with the win taking the Teessiders back to the top of the Championship table and ultimately proving crucial as they pipped Brighton to automatic promotion.

Forshaw remembers the moment vividly, and was the recipient of some flowers that were left anonymously at the Rockliffe Park reception as a result.

“I did get some flowers sent to me, yeah,” he said. “I’m not sure who they were off, but they were there at the front reception waiting for me. I don’t even think I took them home though – I gave them to Elaine, the kit woman. She was made up with them.

“I lost myself when I scored. For about 20 seconds or so, I was just completely lost with all the celebrations. The whole place went wild and it was great. There were times where I found it hard last season, so I think that was just a nice feeling for me and the team.”

Boro’s last encounter with Watford was a rather less memorable occasion, with the Hornets claiming a 2-0 win at Vicarage Road in the final month of the 2014-15 season.

Forshaw was a substitute on that occasion, with the result proving a key factor in the final standings, which saw Watford claim a top-two finish as Boro finished fourth before losing to Norwich in the play-off final.

Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo scored Watford’s goals a year-and-a-half ago, and the pair are set to combine on Sunday, having claimed a combined total of five goals already this season.

“Everyone knows they’re really strong up top, with two good centre-forwards,” said Forshaw. “They’re quite a direct side. We played against them in the Championship and they were a good team then. But we’ll be looking at it at home as a game we can hopefully get three points from.

“I think they’re quite simple in their approach – they get the ball up to Deeney and Ighalo plays off him. It’s a little bit more of a direct game, and it’s been effective for them in the last few years. But we’ll have a game plan to try to stop them and get goals for ourselves.”

And while Watford’s squad hasn’t changed too much in almost a season-and-a-half, Boro’s weekend line-up will be markedly different from the side that lined up at Vicarage Road in April 2015 featuring the likes of Dwight Tiendali, Fernando Amorebieta, Jonathan Woodgate and Adam Reach.

“We’ve come a long way since we last played them before they were promoted,” said Forshaw. “We are a better squad now than we were then.

“No disrespect to the lads who were here at that time, but we’re in a different league now and we have strengthened. They haven’t made as many changes – although they’ve obviously changed their manager a lot more. It’s definitely a game that we’ll be looking at, where we want to take maximum points.”