Paul Clement has set Swansea City a challenging points target for Premier League survival.
Forty points is typically enough for safety and Swansea are 13 short of that mark with nine games remaining.
But head coach Clement wants more than the 42 points West Ham were relegated with at the end of the 2002-03 season – the most that any side has gone down with in a 38-game campaign.
“The highest number of points a team has gone down with is 42 so we need more than that,” Clement said ahead of Sunday’s home game against relegation rivals Middlesbrough.
“There is pressure (in the run-in), we all feel it, but it should not be used as a negative.
“Pressure is a good thing, it keeps you alert and mind focused on the task at hand.
“And our task is to try and get more than those 42 points.”
The evidence, however, suggests that 40 points should be more than enough to secure Swansea a seventh season of Premier League football.
Only three times in the previous 21 Premier League campaigns has 40 points not been enough to secure top-flight status.
And the last occasion was when West Ham were relegated under caretaker boss Trevor Brooking on the final day of the season 14 years ago.
The average number of points needed to stay up in the 13 seasons since West Ham’s demotion is 35 – and beating Middlesbrough would take Swansea to within five of that mark.
Victory would also move Swansea eight points clear of Middlesbrough, although the north-east side do have a game in hand.
“(Losing) would put them in a difficult situation,” Clement said.
“It would not be over for them, but it would make things more difficult.
“We seem to have this conversation every week about how important the game is.
“We had it against Palace in my first game, we had it against Leicester, Burnley, Hull and Bournemouth. This is no different.”
Swansea appeared as if they were dragging themselves away from danger when Clement won five of his first eight games following his appointment at the start of January.
But successive defeats to Hull and Bournemouth have left them only three points above the relegation zone.
“The fact we didn’t pick up anything in the last two games (means) it’s important to get points back on the board again,” Clement said.
“We’re going to use our home form momentum to do our very best to do that.
“I said before the Bournemouth game that it is never nice to go into the international break with a disappointing loss or performance, and the first few days were not particularly pleasant.
“But we didn’t actually lose too many players to international duty, and we’ve had some good training sessions since everyone has been back.”
