Town boss Kieran McKenna says the Blues have had a good week’s training, despite the disappointment of last Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Wolves which all but confirmed relegation back to the Championship.
The Old Gold’s win put them 12 points plus goal difference ahead of Town with only seven games left to play, almost certainly an insurmountable gap.
"We left the stadium really sad on Saturday, but we’ve had a good week at the training ground,” McKenna said when asked how he had picked up his players afterwards.
"Of course, everyone was sore coming in at the start of the week, but we had some good conversations, some good meetings about what the next few weeks needs to look like.
"We already had, during the international break, had teed-up the last nine games, some promises and guarantees that we tried to make with ourselves, whichever way results went.
"Of course, the first game [the 2-1 win at Bournemouth] was excellent, the next one not so much, so it changes the perspective a little bit.
"We’ve had some good conversations, the training’s been good and I think having Chelsea, Arsenal and Newcastle in the next three games, as much as they’re really, really difficult games, and it’s going to be really, really hard to get the results.
"You can’t be anything other than excited for games like that and the players are really looking forward to it.
"Once the mindsets turned to that and the seven games we have left, and certainly the fixture we have on Sunday and the ones after that, everyone’s motivation is really high.
"Everyone knows we have to go out and compete as well as we can in terms of the performance, fight for the points and control what we can control.”
The Blues boss was asked whether he has had to find a balance between the realism of the situation and keeping the mood upbeat and the players believing they can win as many points as possible in the final weeks of the campaign.
"I think they’re both the same situation,” he reflected. "Of course, we know that from a league perspective nothing’s 100 per cent decided and it’s not impossible, but we also know after Saturday that it puts it to a position of likeliness that our energy is best focused on ourselves.
"That’s always been the case, it’s always been that we focus on ourselves, our performances, our results, but certainly after Wolves winning against us on Saturday, it’s time for 100 per cent focus on ourselves, full commitment to what we’re going to give and our performances in the next seven games, starting on Sunday.
"The league table probably dictates that it’s out of our control and if we were to spend too much energy on what another team might do, then we’re not going to give the best version of ourselves.
"That side of it’s not been a big challenge. We know that it’s not impossible, we know that if we win the game on Sunday and Wolves lose their game [at home to Spurs], then the perspective can look a little bit different but it’s really a position where we can just focus on ourselves and train well this week.
"The players have done that. Prepared well for the game, we’re in the process of trying to do that and go and give the best performance we possibly can on Sunday and hopefully that gets us something from the game.
"But whatever happens on Sunday, the process starts again on Monday for Arsenal next weekend.”