Jaap Stam reveals his No 1 aim for Reading '“ and it's NOT catching Newcastle

Reading, in third place, are six points behind Rafa Benitez's side, who have three games left to play.

Huddersfield Town – who have a game in hand – are a further point adrift of Newcastle, who are looking to join promoted Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.

Reading manager Stam is more concerned with securing a top-six finish.

“It’s not going to be easy," said Stam. "We don’t need to look at Newcastle.

“You can say if everything goes right for us, and we win our games and they lose their games, then we can still catch them in the table.

“But for us we still need to work hard and try to win our next game at Nottingham Forest.

“It’s going to be a very tough match, because they need a result.

“And after that we have Wigan, who are basically in the same situation (as relegated Rotherham United), so it’s not going to be an easy one.

“Those are the games we need to focus on, and then after we have played them we can see where we can end up.

“Some people ask me about whether we want to end up third or fourth in the table, but we’re not there yet.

“We need to be very happy if we can end up in the top six.

“You can say it’s better to play first away and then at home, but it’s already a great achievement from the team.

“If we finish in the top six, the players will have done a hell of a job.

“Then we’ll look at the two game,s and hopefully get to the final. But first we need to end up in the top six, so we’re not thinking about the final yet.”