THE family of the region’s newest singing sensation believe he really can win the X Factor.

James Arthur’s sister, Sian, revealed the singer believed he was going to wind up in the bottom two in Sunday night’s ITV results show.

And she also said the family view Ella as James’ most serious competition.

James Arthur, 24, from Saltburn, sang Adele’s Hometown Glory and Gary Barlow told him “your talent is incredible”.

Sian, 25, said: “We’re all ecstatic that he is through. I think he was having a few doubts yesterday as to whether he would be in the bottom two or not. I have no idea why, because I think it was his best performance to date.

“Last night was the first time I thought that he could actually win it. He far outweighs the rest of the contestants. His only real competition in my eyes, is Ella. She is phenomenal.

“I keep envisioning all the family at the final and Dermot announcing that James is the winner. It’s all becoming so real now, and I think he’s got a hell of a good chance of becoming the winner this year.

“I would like to thank everyone for picking up the phone and voting for him, the support has been outstanding! He already has a community of fans on twitter that spend an immense amount of time rallying up votes for him. We’re all blown away by it.”