Monday 24 April 2017 14:41, UK
Rafael Benitez says nobody will remember how Newcastle won back their place in the Premier League - so long as they do it.
The Magpies will be promoted at the first time of asking if they beat Preston at St James' Park on Monday evening - live on Sky Sports.
Brighton's surprise defeat to Norwich on Friday means Newcastle still have an outside chance of snatching the Sky Bet Championship title but pragmatic boss Benitez insists securing Premier League football is the only thing that matters.
The Spaniard said: "My target was always to try to go up. It doesn't matter to me the position, so the main thing is just to make sure we finish our job.
"I am sure that everything is fine if we go up. In six months' time, nobody will remember if we won or lost any games, just that we were promoted - that was the target.
"I always talk about experience and in this case, stats and history if you want. In the last five years, you haven't had too many teams going straight up - just one, so that shows how difficult it is for the teams who were relegated."
The Easter weekend left Tyneside bathed in anxiety after Newcastle surrendered two points to Leeds at the death on Good Friday and were then soundly beaten at Ipswich three days later.
But defeats for Huddersfield and Reading on Saturday mean one win from their remaining three fixtures will be enough to clinch promotion and Benitez is in no mood to extend the agony.
He said: "It's just so simple: it depends on us and if we work hard and play well and we are a little bit lucky sometimes, we will be there."
It will be the third meeting between the sides this season with the Magpies having trounced Preston 6-0 in the EFL Cup at St James' and won 2-1 in the league at Deepdale, Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring twice in both games.
Lilywhites boss Simon Grayson is looking for a response to a run of three successive defeats.
"They need the points to get over the line and get back into the Premiership but we will take heart from what we have done and the good results we have had throughout the season," Grayson told the club's official website.
"But the players have to show determination to be better and harder to beat than they have in the last three games."
