Oli McBurnie insists Swansea City and their manager Graham Potter are too raw to take any notice of the Championship table.
The Swans striker is part of a team that currently lay eighth and could move higher if they win at Rotherham on Saturday.
That would be a third successive league victory for Potter’s side – something the club have not achieved since May 2017, when they won their final three games of the season under Paul Clement to remain in the Premier League.
But talk of climbing the table back into the play-off positions is not on the players’ agenda according to McBurnie.
The Scotland striker – who scored both goals in last week’s victory at home to Reading – said: “We kind of don’t really look at the table.
“It seems like a cliché, but we look at each individual game, analyse it and review it with the gaffer, then look at the next game and have a game plan for that one.
“I said at the start of the season, we will just see where we go. We don’t know what’s going to happen because we’ve never been at this level as a group before and neither has the manager.
“We’re just going to take things as they come and try and win as many games as possible.
“We had two home games that we felt were an opportunity for us to get some points out of. We managed to get maximum points, so now we go into the next two away games full of confidence.”
McBurnie has now scored six goals this season, although his pair against Reading were his first for eight weeks.
It may have been a barren period for the Yorkshire-born player, but a feature during the second part of that spell has been the increasing understanding between him and young winger Daniel James.
The 20-year-old has added more composure to his lightning pace and McBurnie feels the terror he created against Reading can be repeated at Rotherham and anywhere else he goes this season.
“He’s just incredible. I think that’s three recent games when he’s played now and taken the match by storm. I think I said the other day, there’s not a defender in this league who is capable of dealing with him when he’s on his game,” added McBurnie.
“I’ve seen him do that for the last three years against under-23 teams and the question was always, ‘can he do it at first-team level?’
“I think he’s now showing everyone that he’s more than capable of doing that at this level and even higher.
“Mind you, he’s terrible in training! He’s one of the worst. You never want to be on his team in training, but he’s a complete game player who turns it on in matches.
“He looks like this little, small, podgy kid who shouldn’t be able to run and then he gets into a game and he’s ridiculous. It’s a pleasure to play alongside him. I think he gave me a couple of assists against Reading, so he did really well.”
Rotherham sit just a place above the Championship relegation zone having failed to win in their last eight matches.
But Paul Warne’s team have drawn five of their last six, while they have only been beaten once on their own patch all season.
Potter has been impressed by last May’s League One play-off winners and said: “They are doing really well with what they have.
“They are well-organised, they play to their strengths and they are dangerous. They have a great team ethic, are well-coached and have a clear idea of what they want to do.
“You can see how they can take points and win football matches. I have been really impressed with them in the games that I have watched and this is going to be a difficult game for us.”
“But we should be confident – we have been progressing in terms of our performance and it’s nice to have picked up a couple of wins.
“Now we have to start again. We are playing against a team who have proved they can take points off anybody.
“That’s the challenge in this league. You arrive at a game and you have a chance to win, but you also have a chance to lose if you don’t do things well.”
