Martin O'Neill is keeping his feet firmly on the ground - despite his high-flying Aston Villa side challenging the 'big four' monopoly.
An 11-game unbeaten run has seen Villa currently sit in fourth in the table - three points off top spot and five clear from Arsenal in fifth.
But O'Neill thinks it is too early yet to be talking of a top four finish, although he is delighted with what his team has achieved so far.
He told the Daily Express: "I don't think they're looking at us. I just think that we're like a wasp. I'm looking at them, but they're not looking at us.
"I think they're looking to see if Arsenal drop some points. Those teams are all capable of winning six or seven games in a row. The great news about us is we've gone on a really good run and we deserve to be there.
"But they're not thinking 'Bloody hell, Villa have won again?' - I wouldn't have thought that has crossed their minds."
Villa now face Wigan, Blackburn, Chelsea, Stoke and Man City in their next five games.
If they can stretch their unbeaten run to 16 games and beat those sides then it would surely leave them in the title race with only 10 matches to go.
"In that context, the league would be down to 10 games and it would mean that we would still be there," agreed O'Neill.
"We couldn't be any worse than the position that we are in by winning the games and I would think 'Yeah, yeah'.
"But if we lose the next five games, we might not finish in the top six. You need things going your way.
"Whatever position we finish in, that's where we will deserve to finish. If that means we finish above one of those (top four) sides then I would have to say that we would be better."
But O'Neill currently thinks the 'big four' are better than his team, although his side are showing a great resilience.
He added: "I think that those sides, including Arsenal, are better than us. That is my view.
"I would love to say that I'm playing it down but all those sides are better.
"They've got bigger squads, they can rotate. We need to have a lot of things go for us. But we've got one or two excellent players in the team and we've got determination. There is a bit of resilience about the side.
"I'm always talking about that for us to try and stay up there we need this resilience and we need to eke out results, so that in itself is quite pleasing.
"We've got momentum going. We have won a lot of games. We've won nine out of 12 away and I think that speaks volumes for the team's character.
"Winning away from home tells you that we're not crumbling under pressure."
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