Scott Parker discusses Burnley's promotion chances as rivals Leeds United and Sheffield United set to do battle

The Clarets now find themselves five points off the top two following their frustrating 0-0 draw against Preston North End last time out.

Parker’s side could, however, make up some ground with a win against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night, as first take on second on Monday with Leeds United making the trip to Sheffield United.

Parker, however, doesn’t want his players to get embroiled in the league table and what may happen elsewhere despite entering the decisive final stage of the campaign.

When asked if the gap widening will focus minds among his squad, Parker said: “No, not really. I only said it to the players this morning, I'll never jump on a rollercoaster of what this league and this season brings.

“I've got real no interest in what our competitors are doing, certainly at this point in the season. What Leeds and Sheffield United are doing is just an absolute irrelevance to me.

“Our focus is that, if we're not going to win enough games to generate enough points, then the facts are we're not going to be successful or get to where we need to get to.

“We can't jump on that rollercoaster of emotion over a weekend looking at what other teams are doing or what they're not doing. Five points, six points, whatever the gap is, it's a total irrelevance to me.

“The main focus is every game we go into, can we win? Can we get three points? And by the time we get to April, that may be a different story. Don't get me wrong. But at this present moment in time, 13 games left. I think there are many, many more stories and there's many more scenarios that we're going to be facing and you're going to be asking me week in, week out. It is what it is.

“Let's go and win games and try and win as many as we can.”

Parker also appeared to suggest he has a certain points target in mind that will be required to finish in the top two.

“We’ve got no control over what the other sides do, other than one team because we play them later in the season. Other than that, none of us can control what a certain team does one weekend to the next,” he added.

“What we can control is us winning football matches and being as positive and as dominant as we can to win them. And like I said, the cold hard facts are you need to win games. You need to hit a certain marker this year.

“If you want to get promoted, that marker was set at the beginning of the season. It's been set over the last 10 years of teams in the Championship. If you hit a certain point, it gives you a rough gauge of where you need to be.

“We need to keep churning out results and get some wins and see where that leads us.”

It is, however, integral that Burnley pick up the three points against Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night to apply some pressure on the top two before they face one another at Bramall Lane on Monday night.

Parker doesn’t necessarily see it that way though, insisting he’s focused on one game and one game only.

“Again, honestly, I just see it that we've got a game on Friday night and we've just got to win that game,” he said. “We've got to be the best version of ourselves and win that game.

“I can't tell you what's going to happen on Monday, and who they play, when they play, what's going to happen if so-and-so win, it means this, or... honestly, there's 13 games left and at this moment in time, I can guarantee you that there will be many more scenarios come up.

“I've always said it, the most stable teams, the ones that don't get on rollercoasters, and the ones with the most stable and consistent behaviours are normally the ones that give themselves the best opportunity.

“We're getting to the point in the season where if there's one thing I want to guarantee, or I want my players to be, is fully focused on each game. Cliché as it sounds, there's no truer words and that's what my experience tells me.

“My experience tells me that you need a stable team, you need a group of men and players that don't get involved and don't jump on the rollercoaster for 90 minutes of football that someone else is playing, or a weekend of football where there's two games going on, what may affect you. Just don't jump on the rollercoaster. Just stay off it.

“Let someone else get on that if they want to. Just stay focused on what we need to do.”