Dundee United and St Johnstone are the clubs under pressure in the race for Europe, according to Inverness Caledonian Thistle boss John Hughes.
Saints moved to within four points of third-placed Inverness on Saturday as they won at Dundee, while the Highlanders lost 2-1 at home to Aberdeen.
Caley Jags have played a game less than Saints but have to play fifth-placed United, who are six points adrift, twice before the end of the campaign.
And despite seeing their third spot become less secure – the last league position that guarantees Europa League qualification – Hughes has denied that the heat has been turned up on the Highlanders.
Inverness have an opportunity to make it by winning the Scottish Cup final, but Hughes wants his players to earn their reward for a season of consistency in the top flight.
He said: “We’ve come so far but St Johnstone and Dundee United are just behind us and they can smell third place now.
“We’ve got a big couple of weeks coming but there is no pressure on us. Having come this far and put ourselves in a great position we want to go on and take that third place and with it a European spot.”
The Caley Jags manager is still smarting from Saturday’s home defeat by the Dons. Inverness squandered three terrific first-half chances to score before poor defending allowed Aberdeen to win the game and secure second place.
He said: “We should have been a couple of goals ahead at half-time as we were the better team but to lose two fundamental goals from set-pieces hurt us and it’s not the first time it’s happened this season.
“We can match any team physically in this league but sometimes we focus on what we want to do rather than what the game is demanding. If we had done that we wouldn’t have lost to Aberdeen.”