The noise at the final whistle on Monday night told Jonathan Greening everything he needed to know about the West Bromwich Albion supporters.

"We lose, we are still in the bottom three, yet we are cheered off the pitch," Greening said. "Amazing."

With friends like that, how can Albion lose their fight to avoid relegation? In truth, however, time is running out. The 2-0 home defeat against Arsenal two nights ago means that Albion have two matches left - away to Manchester United and home to Portsmouth - to save their Premiership status.

If impressive performances were enough, Albion would be sitting comfortably in midtable, but too many matches have been lost from winning positions and now the spectre of the Coca-Coca Championship hangs over The Hawthorns like a black cloud.

" Anybody looking at that match [against Arsenal] would perhaps conclude that there is not that big a gap between us," Greening said. "Certainly not a gap of 16 places.

"That is what adds to our disappointment. We don't think we deserve to be where we are. Since Christmas, we have played well. We are capable of staying in this division and hopefully we will get the chance to prove that next year.

"We have to get something from Old Trafford [on Saturday] now. It is a hard place to go and all the other teams fighting against relegation will be looking to see how we get on. If we can put on a similar performance to the one against Arsenal and, hopefully, sneak a goal, who knows? We'd take that.

"It is strange that our best performances have come in matches that we have lost. We have lost so many matches in the last minute; in matches where we should have got points. It hurts us."

But he admitted: "Arsenal are full of world-class players. They make substitutions and they bring on Dennis Bergkamp and Edu, so it is hard to compete with that. They have quality all over. One chance and they take it."

Greening has been to Old Trafford many times, most often as a Manchester United player, but sometimes as a member of the opposition. He loves the stadium but wishes he was going there under better circumstances. Relegation battles, he says, do not make for much fun.

"It still means a lot for me to go to Old Trafford," Greening said. "I spent a long time there and it was a great learning curve. Going there would be nice. One of the best stadiums in the world. There will be about 68,000 people - everyone wants to be a part of that. I just wish I was going back there in better circumstances.

"I think we are all buzzing to go there. We have got nothing to lose. If we perform as we can, we can get something. When I first came to West Brom, I did not expect to be down here because of the players we had but we are here and we have to get on with it.

" We all believed we could get out of it. By Christmas, the gaffer [Bryan Robson] had been here a month or so and we were starting to play good football. Some people wrote us off but we never did. We always thought we had a chance and we still have.

"I think we are the first team to be bottom of the Premiership at Christmas and move out of the bottom three. That gives us hope and there are two big games to go."

Intriguingly, Albion's match at Old Trafford on Saturday takes place at 5.15pm, meaning that they will know how Crystal Palace and Southampton will have got on in their meeting at Selhurst Park.

"With the Manchester United game being at 5.15pm, we will go into the match knowing how the other teams [Palace, Southampton and Norwich City] have got on," Greening said. "In some ways it is a difficult position but, as far as I am concerned, it is all in our own hands now.

"It would be ideal if Crystal Palace and Southampton drew their match at the weekend. We have already discussed that. Ideally, we would like a situation where we can go into our final match of the season, at home to Portsmouth, needing a victory to stay up. With our fans behind us, we'd fancy our chances.

"We have been playing well at home so that is something we would take.

Alas for Albion, there will be no Kieran Richardson. The midfield player is on loan from United and, as part of an agreement between the clubs, is ineligible. Richardson has been a revelation and his energy will be missed.

"It is a blow that Kieran Richardson will not be playing," Greening said. "He has a lot of energy and a lot of talent and we will miss him, no doubt, but we knew the situation when he signed. We have other players who can do a job.

"If we stay in the Premiership, I think Kieran will stay for another year and that is what we all want. That would be nice for him. We keep mentioning it to him. He is still learning. If we stay up, I think he will stay."

And so the incentives for survival increase.