Blues manager Kieran McKenna believes the next two matches will be “a good marker performance-wise of how we are developing” with his side travelling to face third-placed Leeds United on Saturday before top-of-the-table Leicester City visit Portman Road on Boxing Day.

Town, newly-promoted from League One, are notable outliers at the top of the Championship table at present with the three other teams in the top four, the Foxes, Whites and Southampton, all relegated from the Premier League in May.

McKenna was asked whether the Blues, currently 10 points ahead of Leeds and Southampton and three off Leicester, view themselves as underdogs in the fight for automatic promotion.

“It is not something that we are thinking about,” McKenna said. “We are not pitching ourselves [as that].

“Obviously, the four of us are the top four in the league at the moment, but there are other teams a few points behind as well.

“We are not framing ourselves in that picture, but I think it is a pretty obvious thing to say, you look at the strength of the teams around us. You look at the squads they have.

“To be honest, I think they are unusually strong even for top Championship sides in the instance of Leicester.

“All three teams are teams that didn't necessarily peter out of the Premier League. They are squads that were invested in. They are squads with ownerships that have invested. Invested in young players, invested in good players and kept a lot of them together.

“I think the points tallies reflect the fact that it is not even a usual strength top of the Championship. It is an exceptional strength top of the Championship and for us to be competing there after 22 games is something that reflects really well.

“But it is 22 games. We have still got 24 to play. There is so much football to be played over the next nine days, let alone over the next four and a half months.

“It is certainly far too early to be thinking about positions or where we are relative to other teams, or who is in the hunt for what.

“We are just trying to keep getting better and trying to perform. Of course, we play two of the teams around us in the next few days. That will be a good marker performance-wise of how we are developing. We will give both games everything we got and we will see where we are at after that.”

From social media, Leeds fans believe - or perhaps hope - that Town will run out of steam. Does McKenna take any pleasure from the Blues continuing to confound those expectations?

“I understand it,” the Northern Irishman reflected. “I don't think it is something you can take a lot of enjoyment from because you probably have to pause to do that and look back and reflect.

“Reflect on what has been an incredible first half of the season, but there is no time to reflect because the next game is coming.

“As I said, I am sure we are over-performing what anyone's expectations would have been. I am sure the teams around us would expect that with the points total they have, they would be in a very different position from what [they’re] in.

“I think we have performed really well over the first half of the season and deserve to be where we are at.

“But it is 22 games. We are not even at the halfway point. I know we are very close, but as we sit here today, we are not even at the halfway point of a really long season.

“We know that the Championship season can ebb and flow. We know that other teams will strengthen a lot come January and there is an awful lot of football to be played.

“There is honestly not [any enjoyment taken from confounding expectations]. We can't give any energy or any mental head space to thinking about what anyone else would think about us.

“It just has to be focused on the next game, the big challenges ahead and keep trying to find ways to improve the players, keep trying to find ways to improve the team and adapt to what we have coming up.”

Photo: TWTD

Tractorboy58 added 16:49 - Dec 21 Win lose or draw we have a top class manager .. be interesting to see whether we get many ins and outs in January
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Bluedocker added 17:06 - Dec 21 Clinical striker left mid/winger (or left back and push Leif into midfield) Centre back And depending on williams if it is to do with his attitude a right back..
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backwaywhen added 18:23 - Dec 21 KM more honest than a day is long …….top man .
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