Rafa Benitez says he's not thinking too far ahead despite Newcastle's lofty position at the top of the Sky Bet Championship.
The Magpies are three points clear of Brighton in second and eight ahead of Huddersfield in third after 16 games of the season, but Benitez insisted that his side are still taking each game as it comes, despite talk of an immediate return to the Premier League.
"Our idea is to approach every game like the most important game, taking it one at a time," he told Sky Bet after winning Championship manager of the month for October. "We are not thinking about [total] points, we're thinking about the next game and getting three points there.
"The most important thing for me is to beat Leeds next week, then we'll think about the future. It will be tough because they're in form and doing well. We know we have to be ready.
"[The mood] is really good, we are playing well, we're scoring goals and not conceding too many.
"Also we have to understand the style of the Championship. Sometimes at home you play fluid football on the floor and when you play away you have to defend long balls and set-pieces. I think the team is improving, and you can see that because the results are good."
Benitez was also full of praise for striker Dwight Gayle, with his 11 goals so far helping to fire Newcastle to the top of the table.
"He's an interesting player and he has a lot of good things," said Benitez. "When you talk about strikers, what they have to do is score goals [and he's doing that].
"And he can score even more because he's working very hard in the training sessions, he's very keen to learn and improve."
Click here to see the full interview with Rafa Benitez on Sky Bet's official YouTube channel