Newcastle boss Kevin Keegan has set his side the task of winning the 'mini-league' of teams trying to avoid relegation.
The Magpies travel to fellow Barclays Premier League strugglers Birmingham tonight knowing a first victory under their new manager would give them precious breathing space in the battle for survival.
Yet they are also well aware that defeat, however, could leave them precariously placed in a tight eight-team tussle.
Keegan's side also have to face four of the sides fighting with them to avoid the drop with seemingly-doomed Derby in Birmingham, Fulham, Reading and derby rivals Sunderland over the next few weeks.
The 57-year-old's mission is quite simple - to drag the club away from the bottom three and then start all over again during the summer.
It promises to be an agonising conclusion to a woeful season on Tyneside, and while the naturally optimistic Keegan is desperate to keep spirits high, he admits it is only natural that people are concerned.
He said: "Regardless of what people say, whether you are at the top of the table or the bottom of the table, you do look at other people's results.
"But the one thing you have always got to focus on is your own. It's no good keeping looking and saying, 'They haven't won a game,' or 'They have drawn there,' if you are not winning games yourself.
"We have talked to the players this week about this being a nine-game season now - 'There are nine games left, these are the fixtures, these are the ones we have at home, these are the ones we have away and this is what we expect of you'.
"We are trying to focus on winning the league we are in down at the bottom."
After a run of 12 league games without a victory dating back to December, that may be easier said than done.
Keegan has been in charge for the last eight of those having returned to the club where he made his name as a manager in January.
He has since found himself back in the national spotlight for the wrong reasons but, having experienced the goldfish bowl existence of life on Tyneside twice in the past, he knows that simply comes with the territory.
"We are a big club, we are in a position a lot of people think we shouldn't be in, but the reality is that we are there," said Keegan, who also had a spell as a player with the club.
"We will be looking for a lot of character, a lot of strength and a lot of team-work, getting together and making sure as a unit we are hard to beat.
"If we do that, with the ability we have, we won't have a problem."
