STEWART DOWNING has warned against complacency as Middlesbrough sit top of the Championship over Christmas.

Middlesbrough were three points off the top at the same point last year, and ended up finishing fourth, missing out on promotion to the Premier League after a play-off final defeat to Norwich City.

And with the lead changing hands almost weekly this season, Downing knows that nothing is achieved yet.

“It feels very good to be top,” said the midfielder. “That’s the aim, to keep winning games and stay in the mix.

“We’re in a great position at the minute and we want to stay there, but we have to keep winning because it can easily change. We’ve got three or four games coming up now that we need to win.”

Boro travel to Blackburn Rovers on Boxing Day before hosting Sheffield Wednesday on Monday, after which they will welcome Derby County to the Riverside in the first fixture of 2016. Downing, therefore, feels there are a couple of potential banana skins ahead and Boro need to be at their best over the festive period.

“Obviously looking at the top is where we want to be so it’s exciting, but there’s a long way to go,” said the £5.5million summer signing from West Ham United, following Saturday’s 3-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion.

“We’ve got to play a lot of teams in and around us. There’s Hull yet to play and we have Derby coming up.

“Blackburn won’t be easy either, so they’re all difficult games, but we have a bit of momentum at the minute.

“We bounced back from Hull with some good wins and like I say, Saturday was a massive win for us because we want to be top of the league.”

Boro have not lost back to back games in the Championship this season, which has kept them in and around the top six all season, and Downing knows that any loss of momentum could be crucial as teams begin to show their hand in the race for promotion.

“We were top early on in the season, then slipped to fourth, then up to third,” said Downing.

“You’re up and down, that’s the league because you’re playing so often.

“If we don’t win the next couple then we could find ourselves fourth so the message from us as players and the manager is to keep it going.

“Keep taking one game at a time and keep winning and we’ll start with Blackburn because that’ll be difficult for us.”