Don’t ask Town defender Luke Chambers how many points are needed to ensure Championship survival this season.
Like the rest of the country, he is amazed that so many teams are still in danger of the drop into League One — and he has made it clear he still counts Ipswich as one of them.
Town take on second-placed Hull at Portman Road on Saturday then on Tuesday the visitors are a Crystal Palace side desperate for the points to cement their play-off position.
Chambers said: "No one knows what is going to happen between now and the end of the season and we’ve been saying that for a while now.
"There are five games left and 15 points to play for, although a couple of teams have a game in hand, so we’ve just got to concentrate on what we’ve been doing since the gaffer took over in November.
"That’s been good enough for us so far and we need to keep our foot on the pedal and no one go on their holidays just yet.”
Town have been beaten just once in their last eight games to move six points clear of the relegation zone but that impressive run has still not done enough to guarantee survival.
Chambers added: "It is a big boost but we certainly don’t think we are safe yet. We’ve still got work to do and that needs to be the case until it is mathematically certain.
"We’ve had a good week’s training and we had a tough couple of weeks prior to that where we had a lot of games. We’re looking to go into the Hull and Palace games and get something out of them.”
The former Nottingham Forest defender admits he is surprised to see Hull in contention for automatic promotion, a view based on the Tigers’ performance in the corresponding fixture on Humberside in October when Town led through Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’s goal before succumbing to a late Nick Proschwitz double.
Chambers said: "They were a lot better than us at the time and we were struggling for form. They were a good team but I don’t think they were second in the league at the time, which they are now.
"I wasn’t thinking to myself that they would be giving it a right go. I just think they have probably been the most consistent team. They are playing a lot of good football now because when you are at the top of the league it brings confidence.”