Newcastle are 14 points of the 90-point mark which has, up to now, guaranteed promotion back to Premier League.
Rafa Benitez, however, isn’t setting his team any targets beyond winning their next game.
Asked how many more wins United needed to secure promotion, Benitez said: “Hopefully one at Reading, and then we will see what happens. One at a time.”
Benitez, more used to managing in the Champions League, is enjoying the Championship.
“I like my job,” he said. “Sometimes people say ‘Rafa is lucky because he is doing a job that he likes and is getting paid good money’.
“And that is true. In my case, I enjoy doing my job, and then I try to enjoy preparing for every single game.
“There is the nervousness and the anxiety, but I enjoy the game in the way that I did as a young coach.
“I try to make sure the players understand their job, and then, obviously, after the main this is to win.
“When you win, your are happy, but if not, then you have to start again.
“I like to prepare games, to watch the games, to change things and analyse games after.”
Newcastle beat Reading 4-1 at St James’s Park in August.
On the game against Jaap Stam’s fifth-placed side, Benitez said: “They will play in the same way they have all season.
“They will try to keep the ball and play in a high tempo. We will try to manage that in the way we did in the first game this season.
“As a manager, it always depends on your players. You can have an idea about how to play, but they make the difference.
“They did really well. The work rate of the players the other day (in the 3-1 win over Huddersfield Town) was fantastic. You can see the response from the players.”