Jewell - "It's a blip"

"Although we have failed to win any of our last three games and failed to score too, I have to say that I'm not too concerned because two of the three performances would have been good enough for all three points on many other occasions. Certainly against QPR we should have had the game wrapped up by half time before then falling to a late sucker punch, and against Leicester on Saturday I would say that we had the better chances and looked the side most likely to win the game.

"Therefore I don't think there is too much to worry about, it's probably just a matter of us getting a break in a game and getting ahead and then we can build from there. Certainly Reading away on Saturday would be a good place to start and I do feel that away from home we are able to perform better and that has been proved a few times in the past. We have the ability to be very dangerous on the break and sometimes at home we find it harder when opposing teams come to the JJB and get men behind the ball. On our travels, generally the home side have to come out a bit more and force the play and that tends to suit the players that we have in our side.

"I would also be more concerned about our lack of goals if we were not creating chances, but we have done in the past two games even if we haven't taken them. The front two have had a slightly barren spell of late but to be fair they started the season so fantastically well that there was always the chance that that would happen. They're both still getting in the positions to score and I'm sure that once they get one goal, then several others will probably follow fairly swiftly for both of them. Their record overall is still pretty good despite of the recent run, so I'm not going to start having a go at them or anything daft like that.

"The fact that they've gone a few games without a goal just demonstrates why I stated the importance of other players getting amongst the goals so the pressure isn't all on the front two. That had started to happen before this recent blip - and I have to say that is all I think this is - a blip.

"However, we all know that we are in what has got to be one of the most competitive Leagues in the history of football as there are any number of teams that will fancy their chances of finishing in the top six. That is why we did not get carried away when we were six points clear at the top, just as we won't start panicking now that our lead is back to one point.

"There's an awful long way to go yet but we shouldn't let a couple of ordinary results detract from how well we have done so far. At the end of the day 40 points from 20 games is probably chmapionship form and we now must make sure that we build on that start and keep that kind of form going into and beyond the hectic Christmas period."