EVERYONE has been saying that games against the likes of West Bromwich Albion today will define the season, but I think this month will go a long way to deciding Hull City's Premier League fate, writes Dean Windass.
I was part of the City side that secured top-flight survival in 2009 but our season was almost undone by a poor run in December.
We started well with a win against Middlesbrough but drew one and lost our three remaining festive fixtures, including that 5-1 defeat against Manchester City that saw Phil Brown deliver his half-time team talk on the pitch.
By the end of the season we had only collected one more league win but luckily we'd done enough before the Christmas schedule.
This season, Steve Bruce doesn't have the luxury of a good start to rely upon and looking at their fixtures, this month could make or break their season.
While you don't expect to get anything against Chelsea next weekend, today's game against West Brom, home fixtures against Swansea and Leicester and a trip to Sunderland are all fixtures where City should be picking up points.
I would be targeting at least 10 points from those next five games and I think that is the mark the team needs to be setting itself.
Under Brown we would have meetings where we sat down and discussed points targets. We'd look at each game and set ourselves a goal. After the fixtures we'd regroup and either urge ourselves to keep up our good form or look at what needed changing if we were short of those targets.
I don't know how Bruce works but I'm sure he'll have his own goals in mind. One thing he'll be desperate to make sure of is City's absence from the relegation zone come Christmas.
Psychologically, after Christmas, if you're not in the bottom three it is massive. You feel a lot better. Commentators and pundits always add that nine times out of ten you're going to get relegated if you're down there on January 1, and that is a pressure Bruce and City will be looking to avoid.
There's no doubt it will be a difficult period for the squad, and it's important they stick together as there will be injuries and there will be suspensions.
But it's a time of year as a footballer that you can't help but enjoy. Sure, I've missed out on plenty of Christmases in the past because of the hectic schedule, but at the end of the day it's worthwhile. You always enjoy playing games over training.
Bruce will have been delighted to get a point at Goodison Park. City needed to pick up a good result to stop the rot and they've done that.
They've reacted to what Bruce wanted and it will work wonders to dispel the negativity that has been around the place.
Now the Tigers need to build on that and pick up three points against a struggling West Brom side.
Michael Dawson came out this week and said City need to pick up the points against teams like the Baggies, and he's right. Anything less just isn't good enough.
