King admits the clash against Portsmouth this weekend feels like a relegation battle, with Spurs bottom of the table and Tony Adams' men only three points better off.

"People were asking the question whether we were too good to go down but if we're here at this stage of the season we're obviously not," King said.

"It's going to take a lot of hard work for us to put things right.

"We're losing too many games and we've got to stop that. If it keeps going the way it is we'll get relegated so we have to pull our fingers out and turn it round.

"The Premier League is where we want to play our football. It's a massive club and of course it should be in the Premier League and doing a lot better than we are. So it's up to the players to get ourselves out of this."

King feels Spurs need to work harder in matches to grind out results and believes they need to reproduce the effort they made when Harry Redknapp was first appointed as manager.

"We've not worked hard enough at times, not in training but in matches," he added.

"We've probably come away from the hard work we put in when he first turned up."

The 28-year-old feels that means instilling some steel in a side that can often lose softly.

"I think it's probably been a problem since as long as I can remember," he said.

"We've definitely got enough quality to get out of it but if you look at the games we're losing, we're losing to teams around us who are battling."

Spurs have not been helped by King being unable to play matches in quick succession due to his knee swelling up after games.

Redknapp has only played him in league matches so far, highlighting the need for points to climb the table.

It means King will miss the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final three days after the Pompey clash, and a decision will need to be made whether he plays in the final if Spurs protect their 4-1 lead over Burnley.

King admits there may be no cure for his knee and that it will have to be "managed" for the rest of his career - but he remains optimistic about playing more and more games.

"Last season I played 10 games and this season I've played 15 so far," he said.

"It's improved since last season and I'm still just trying to learn what's the best way for me to manage the knee. If I can get 30 or 40 games that would be good."