Michael O’Neill doesn’t pay much attention to points targets but admits it would be a “mental boost” if Blackburn Rovers can win at Stoke City this weekend.
Fifty points is often considered the magic number for clubs aiming to beat the drop and that milestone is in reach after the point against West Brom on Monday.
But O’Neill is only focused on the Potters as Rovers aim to build on their recent performances and productive Easter weekend.
"I think it is a little bit of a mental boost more than anything else,” he said. "You would hope that it would be enough but you can't rely on that either. That's why I'm always wary about putting a points target on anything.
"We have to go into Saturday's game to try and win the game. If we can't win the game, then we don't lose it. Then we take that forward into the next game.
"When we can't look that far ahead, the preparation time between the games is so limited that we basically have no training time between Saturday and Tuesday. Between the players recovering and also travelling, we have to fly to Southampton.
“It's probably the worst midweek game you could get, if we're honest. But it is what it is and we have to make sure that we're ready to play.
“As I say, the focus is purely on Stoke and getting three points there. Hopefully, the results can go our way as well and our position looks healthier."
This weekend’s fixture game kicks off another demanding run, with four games in the space of seven days, including the long trip to St Mary’s.
But O’Neill refused to make excuses and insisted that the challenge will become slightly easier if they can keep picking up points.
"The schedule for the next little bit is incredibly tough. I think we'll end up playing four games in 10 days,” the head coach added. "We obviously have travel away to Southampton and away to Sheffield United in that period as well.
"There's not a lot of downtime and certainly having to play Saturday, Tuesday, Friday is not ideal. Obviously, Southampton's involvement in the FA Cup has resulted in us having that schedule, but it's ironic that we have 10 days before we play the last game.
"We can complain about it and we can moan about it, but the reality is our focus has to be to try and win the game on Saturday and then roll that through into the game on Tuesday.
"If you're getting results and you're taking things from games, everything's always a little bit easier. Our season, we'll know exactly where we are in the next seven to 10 days."
Although O’Neill returns to his former club on Saturday, the squad now looks completely different under Mark Robins.
Stoke have won back-to-back home games against Watford and Sheffield Wednesday. The Rovers boss knows it is not an easy play to visit but hopes his squad can replicate their recent displays at QPR, Millwall and Birmingham.
"The team has changed a lot," he reflected. "There's barely a player there since my time, so there's been a big turnover in their squad.
"We know where their threats are but we also know that if we can get on top of them and play our own game, we'll have to impose ourselves on the opposition as well.
"I think the supporters there always want a bit more, but we've been to tough places like Birmingham, Millwall and QPR. They're tough places to go, so it will follow the same pattern as any away game."
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