STEVE Kean insists Blackburn Rovers are not far off being on course for a top 10 finish – as the under fire boss looks to keep things in perspective.

Ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League visit of Tottenham Hotspur, Rovers are lying rock bottom of the table with just one league win to their name but Kean is adamant it won’t take a lot to transform their fortunes.

The Rovers boss revealed they have targeted specific points tallies from each Premier League team this season in a bid to stop his squad becoming too obsessed with their league position.

Kean admits the pressure will always be on, with maximum points still the priority against Spurs tomorrow, but believes the method will help his squad keep a realistic view of what they need to do.

He said: “We sat down with the lads and looked at all the clubs and set a target with regards each individual club and what we would like to get from them in a season out of the two games to take us into a position we think we can get to.

“If you look at the table you can get a bit down and you don’t want to look at it again but we are looking at what we need to do against each club.

“It gives the lads a different mindset when you can pinpoint certain clubs and know the points you are after for that season. It reframes it and puts it into another perspective.

“We have a points tally in mind for us to finish in the top 10 and we are slightly off it at the moment but I would stress it is very, very slight.

“That is the object of the exercise to show it is very, very fine margins and to show the lads for us to make up three or four points we would be bang on where we needed to be with another win and another draw.

“I don’t know if it takes the pressure off but it makes you refocus on what is required for certain games. You can just get into a place where every game means the same and I don’t think that is the case.

“There are certain games where if you beat a team at home and draw away and it is a team that should finish around and about you then it is very unlikely they will finish above you. There are certain games you can build up in the players minds to give them a different edge.”

With plans of more protests from sections of supporters tomorrow, Kean is under growing pressure to deliver points to move his side off the bottom of the table.

But after hearing a number of his players back him publicly this week, the Scot was once again bullish about the future.

Kean said: “You can look back, and we have to be careful we don’t do that, but you can look back and think about what if we had scored those goals against Everton and things like that. We can’t do that because those points are gone.

“The margins are so fine that we feel we can put a run together and we have got a bit of momentum from the QPR game.

“It is very reassuring hearing that from my players. I have always had a very good relationship with the players.

"You can feel that atmosphere on the training ground. The unity has never been in question. That was shown by us coming from behind to get a point at home.”