Blues boss Kieran McKenna admits Town need to win a ‘good amount’ of matches as they go into the final 12 fixtures of the season five points plus goal difference from safety.
The 18th-placed Blues had a disastrous weekend, losing 4-1 at home to Spurs, while Wolves, the team immediately above them in the table, had a shock 1-0 away win against AFC Bournemouth, who had been reduced to 10 man just after the half hour mark, effectively leaving them six points from safety.
McKenna was asked if it is important for Town, who are yet to win in the Premier League in 2025 and have won only three all season, to put a run together in order to give themselves a chance of staying up.
"Well you need the first one first of all,” he said at his press conference ahead of Wednesday’s game away against Manchester United, the club where he was on the staff before joining the Blues in December 2021.
"You can't think of a run before you've got one, so we need to fight for the next result.
"We picked up, I think you could say, a good point out of Aston Villa but, of course, we're waiting for a victory and we've got to fight really hard to get it.
"It doesn't matter who you're playing against or whether you've won your last game or if you've not won for a few games, it doesn't count for anything going into the next game.
"We know that in every game we're going to face a really strong opponent. We know we're going to be underdogs for pretty much every game we go into this season and this game's certainly not going to be any different from that category.
"So we've got to fight for each game. You never know when your points are going to come. I think we know that we're going to need to win a good amount of games in the last 12. But our focus is getting the first one that we can, and then we'll take it from there.”
McKenna says his squad’s effort and endeavour has never been in doubt even when results have gone against them.
"I think application should be a given,” he said. "And I don't think that could be levelled at us really on many if any occasions this year.
"The group has given absolutely everything they've got day to day. They've given absolutely everything on the pitch, including a couple of games we maybe didn't manage as well as we could have.
"But the effort has been fantastic and that's a demand, that’s an expectation for every second of every game. And certainly, we're going to need that on Wednesday night.
"We want to keep improving and developing and, as I said after the game on Saturday, it's the stage of the season where points are a big priority.
"But the reality is it's still a growing and evolving group. You've still got on Saturday new players coming into the team for their home debut [keeper Alex Palmer and Jaden Philogene making his first start at Portman Road].
"You're still having new partnerships. Probably whatever team I pick on Wednesday night, it might be the first time that team's been picked.
"It's still an evolving and developing group now. The challenge is that the games tick along, so we've got to still keep trying to improve the group, keep trying to improve the individuals.
"We’ve still got players who are adapting well to the division and will be better in a month, in two months, in three months’ time and we've got to stick to that process and accelerate as fast as we can.
"And we've got to fight to pick up points, no doubt about that. We've left some points out there in the season so far, and even in the last few games.
"We've got to fight in every moment to try and take points and we're going to do that on Wednesday.”
McKenna says the mental aspect is a big part of football but with the season not yet at a point where it has a greater impact than it might earlier in a campaign.
"That's a massive part of the sport at any end of the table,” he continued. "Whatever you're competing for and every single week, the mental aspect is absolutely massive.
"I think there are still a lot of games to go and I certainly feel for us it's not the decisive factor in games.
"We're not thinking about the league position, we're trying desperately to try and pick up points and perform as well as we can.
"So, at the moment I don't think it's a big factor apart from how big the mental aspect is of football.
"I think when things come down to the last few games at either end of the table then maybe blocking out external noise around finishing positions and stuff like that's even more important.
"But at the moment for us, it's learn from each game, prepare the next performance, perform as well as we can and fight to try and take some points.”