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McKenna: There's 27 Points to Play For, We're Still in the Fight - Ipswich Town News

Town manager Kieran McKenna insists that his side are still in the fight to avoid relegation, despite being nine points from safety with only nine matches left to play.

The Blues, who are 18th in the Premier League, have a big week ahead of them with a trip to AFC Bournemouth on Wednesday followed by a home match against Wolves, the team directly above them with a far superior goal difference in addition to their nine-point advantage, on Saturday.

"There's 27 points to play for and there's nearly a quarter of the season left, so we know from a points perspective we're certainly still in the fight,” McKenna said.

"And we know that things can change really, really quickly this week with one positive result or two positive results.

"So there's still absolutely that belief that we can compete till the end of the season in terms of league positions.

"But irrespective of that, we've got a quarter of our first Premier League season in 22 years left. I think whether we were 16th, whether we were one point off the line where we want to be, or if we were 24 points off the line we'd want to be, I couldn't really understand or legislate for any difference in the mindset here and the difference in how we prepare and the difference of how we go into the games. 

"We need to go to every game, give absolutely everything we've got, try and do ourselves and our supporters proud and hope that we get good results from that, and that that will leave us at the end of the season in a position that we're really, really happy with.

"So that's still absolutely the focus and belief, and we hope that a good week this week can really contribute to that, but I don't see that changing any time soon.”

McKenna says he won’t be watching Wolves play West Ham at Molineux on Tuesday evening.

"No, I don't think I will,” he said. "Our focus needs to be on ourselves. We know it's not a position where there's too much point putting focus on anyone else's games.

"We know we need to go and deliver performances and get points on the board ourselves, and we're going to have to do that at a really, really high rate over the next nine games. 

"Of course, we'll check the score, but I think I'll save my mental energy for the things we can try and control.”

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