Town boss Mick McCarthy believes results during the Christmas-New Year period can be pivotal but aren’t necessarily critical to a team’s ambitions for a season.
The Blues face QPR at home today in the first of three tough holiday fixtures with a trip to third-placed Brighton following on Tuesday and Burnley, who are fifth, on January 2nd.
"I always think the next game’s a pivotal moment because it propels you into the one after that and having a good result can [set you up for more good results],” McCarthy said.
"I saw Bournemouth had beaten Chelsea and I was talking to Brett Pitman and said that that result gets you a result further down the line because it gives you some confidence and belief even if you lose the next game, which they didn’t, of course, they beat Manchester United and then they beat West Brom.
"So, a period in time like now, if we beat QPR, we might go to Brighton and get done, who knows, but it gives you a little of [a boost] and you know you’re not getting beaten twice on the bounce.
"Of course, it can be a pivotal time in your season, but if we lose them all and then we win everything in February or everything in January it just suddenly seems that it wasn’t that pivotal. I think you can only look back and say whether that was the time when it cost us or it didn’t cost us.
"But if you lose them all you’re less likely to win them all in January. [Then again] that’s not [always] the case though because we had a bad September, then I got Manager of the Month and Murph got Player of the Month in November and we’re suddenly back in the top six.”
Having been defeated by Middlesbrough and Derby in their last two home games, McCarthy expects those two, who are currently first and second, to fill the automatic promotion spots come May.
"If anybody beats them I’ll be very, very surprised because I think they’ll both add to their squads,” he continued. "I think they’ve both got the best squads, to be honest with you.
"It depends what Brighton do. Chrissie [Hughton]’s done brilliantly there, but I still think Derby and Middlesbrough have got the best squads, when you consider Derby and a really awful start and Brighton were unbeaten. For me they’re the best two teams, the best two squads. There’s my one and two.
"[Against Derby] we just blinked first, unfortunately. It was a poor goal we conceded, we had possession and it was offside and there was a deflection.
"I said on Saturday, if that’s their bit of luck they got against us, let’s hope we get ours somewhere else.”