BLACKBURN Rovers may need to win at least five of their remaining seven games if they are to overhaul Tottenham Hotspur in the race to qualify for Champions League.

That's the view of midfield enforcer Steven Reid, who was the inspiration behind Saturday's nervy 1-0 victory against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Over the last 10 years, it's taken an average of 65.5 points to secure that coveted fourth place in the Premiership and a passport into Europe's premier club competition.

The highest total ever achieved by a club finishing fourth was the 71 points a Craig Bellamy-inspired Newcastle United amassed in 2001/2002.

However, Liverpool crept into the Champions League with just 60 points in 2003/2004 and Everton only achieved one more point than that total to finish fourth last term.

At the moment, Rovers have 52 points from 31 games so five more wins from their remaining seven matches would take them up to 67, a total that would have been good enough to achieve Champions League qualification in seven of the previous 10 seasons.

Reid, who scored the winner at Sunderland, said of the race to finish fourth: "If you look at the last two or three years, we've got nothing to lose now.

"Every game will be like a cup final from now until the end of the season. Hopefully, we can pick up five more wins from the last seven games and that will get us where we want to go.

"The last couple of years we've been battling at the other end of the table, this year we're battling to get into Europe.

"But we're used to pressure games at the end of the season and, hopefully, that can benefit us during the run-in."

Those thoughts were also echoed by Reid's team-mate, Bellamy, who had an excellent record in Europe with Newcastle and he's eager to continue that with Blackburn.

"I want to get into Europe. At Newcastle, Europe was really good for me - I think I scored one in two," said Rovers' leading scorer.

"I've had to take a season off this term to come here but, hopefully, with Blackburn next season, we've got those events to come."