The players have been full of confidence this week following the big win over Crystal Palace and we are hoping to see the same level of performance at the Riverside Stadium this afternoon.
We just need to keep taking it game by game and build on this situation.
First of we need to secure staying up and reach the magic 40 points. Then we need to try and get to 50 and as high as possible. We are in a much better situation than a couple of months ago.
I am expecting a very tough game against Middlesbrough on Saturday and I have respect for them.
Aitor Karanaka has done a very good job and to get promotion in two seasons is brilliant – especially in the Championship as it is a unique competition.
He got them in the Premier League and was brave to add some players like Negredo, Valdes and others. You need character and to be a decision maker. He's done it all. They are hard to beat and very organised, credit to him.
They have organisation, quality and they are playing with confidence but we have a chance and I'm expecting my players to be how we were in the second half against Palace.
We need to be on top of the game, brave on the ball, to be lethal, to deliver crosses, break through them and defend in numbers. When we do that we have a chance against every team.
Hopefully the players with knocks will be okay and that is crucial as well. Against Palace we had to work very hard to get the three points even though the scoresheet says 3-0. It wasn't easy.
I was asked in the pre-match press conference about the possibility of more young players going out on loan and the chances of Toni Martinez breaking into the first-team squad.
Will he (Toni) be good enough? You never know. He should be good enough. He has scored a lot of goals but it is very hard to judge players from different levels and different leagues.
Last year I saw British clubs putting young players in and I am asking are they putting them based on training and then I found out they have a policy of 15 games so they send them on loan for a year or too and then if they are good, they take them back and put them in the team.
For me that is the key. The U23s is really good for young players but the stage comes when the players should go. Is it one season, two seasons….
We have all been there. Even the big players like Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand, you should play and live with the people who are feeding their families out of those Saturdays and Sundays and that is the key. We send them and look at them.
We then decide if he is good enough and put him in a game or he is not good enough, lets release him or sell him.
Frank and Rio both went out on loan. Rio was great in training but he didn't get a chance ahead of myself, Marc Rieper and Julian Dicks.
He went to Bournemouth and that is what Harry Kane done and many others like that. That is why Josh Cullen is on loan and Reece Burke is on loan. Marcus Browne has gone into the Championship and that is the way for me.
The plan with Reece is he has a great future with us and he should be in West Ham if he is centre back three or four, but not five. If that is the case he should go out on loan for one-year to emerge and improve and then come back and play. That is the very simple philosophy but definitely the best one.
I was also asked about Andy Carroll and where I rate his scissor kick against Palace last weekend.
That was a perfect goal. A few of those think 'could the keeper have saved it?' or 'that was lucky because he hit it with the shin pad'.
This was like it was for a book - when you have a page for a great scissors-kick goal you would have it go in a corner and that was exactly what he did.
People have asked if it is better than the scorpion kicks that were scored a few weeks ago.
I am not objective but for me this was better because those goals that they scored, they were magnificent but they were a little bit lucky. They had nothing to lose, the ball was there and they thought 'OK, let's try it' and suddenly they are celebrating.
Andy's was planned from the moment the cross came in.
I wish all our fans making the long trip to the north east a safe journey and hope we can come away with another three points.
Enjoy the game.
Slaven