Barnsley will look for an eighth straight victory and to increase the gap between them and the sides outside the play-off places when they host relegation-battling Derby County in their game in hand from 7pm tomorrow.
The Reds are sixth in the Championship - the highest they have been after the first ten games of a season since 2000.
Derby – managed by Wayne Rooney – are currently 19th, three places and six points above the relegation zone.
Head coach Valerien Ismael said: "It is another big game. Normally it is a team that has to be in top six with all the financial possibility and the big names in their squad. But they are fighting to stay in the league and they need the points. It is the same situation as against Birmingham on Saturday it will be a big fight.”
The Reds have won their last seven matches for the first time ever at this level of football and only the third time in their history.
Ismael said: "We don’t have any pressure. We just keep moving forward. We reached our first purpose to stay in the league and now everything that is coming is pure hunger to keep moving.
"We start every game with a big desire to continue to move forward. If you reach seven (wins), you reach eight. We want to raise the bar, push the limits as high as we can and keep moving up the table.
"When you are on such a run you want to keep it and defend it with all you have. At the moment we are in a good position and it is a great feeling, but we need more wins."
Barnsley won 2-0 at Pride Park on November 7, their first away victory of the season. Home goalkeeper David Marshall gifted the ball to Conor Chaplin for the opener before substitute Victor Adeboyejo secured the win late on. Most teams have stopped playing out from the back against Barnsley in recent weeks and opted to play long balls.
"We will see how they play. We have to be prepared to press, to fight and compete in duels. It is not about the way to play, it is about the situation of the teams who need points.
"We play with no pressure and we can be more comfortable than the opponent who is under big big pressure because they need points. When the pressure is coming, sometimes you change your way to play to get the points. I have to prepare the guys for all the ways to play. If we have to press, we press and if we have to go more long, we will go more long.”
Chaplin added: "Derby are coming off the back of a few bad results and they find themselves back in the mix of the relegation fight. They have got great players and a really good squad.
"I am surprised by where they are because of the calibre of player they have but, from last season, I know how hard it can be. The Championship is relentless and it’s hard when you’re in a losing run and you’re not sure where you will get the next win from. We all thought they would go further away from the relegation zone, but they have had a couple of bad results.
“The win there was a good day for the team. It was a big game. It was the gaffer’s first win away. We showed sides to our game that people probably didn’t think we had at the time.”
