This is a hard question to answer. We have learned our lesson painfully enough in recent cup ties that we cannot take anything for granted and while we are in a good position now, things could easily turn round. A loss to Dundee United at Fir Park coupled with them beating Hibs could be catastrophic, particularly since they have the Old Firm to come when the fixtures will be meaningless for the Glasgow pair.
Similarly if Hibs triumph at Tannadice they will be confident of taking enough from Aberdeen away and Rangers at home to stay alive going into their final game at home to us. Would we fancy our chances going there to get a result? Panic stations indeed.
But if we manage to detach ourselves emotionally and look at the situation objectively, we are clear favourites for third. That is terrifying but true nonetheless. We currently have small but important lead over the other pair and two more games to play. Admittedly both matches are against the Old Firm but it means in total we have five more games at Fir Park plus a couple of away trips. A modest target of six points through either two wins or a win and three draws which would leave us on 58 points. If we assume, dangerous as it is, that both our competitors will lose in Glasgow, that leaves them needing three wins out of their remaining four games or two wins and two draws, depending on goal difference, to catch us. They could cut each other's throats by drawing at Tannadice and even then their remaining games include a six-pointer with us, a tricky trip to Pittodrie and then the Old Firm at home. Aberdeen may be poor but they have improved dramatically to steal the last top six spot. They won't lose all of their next five games and playing them at home definitely gives us an advantage. One of United and Hibs will be doing very well to overtake us assuming we get our six points and if we could somehow get eight - or perhaps more realistically nine - then it should be passports out time.
Of course this kind of conjecture can be blown apart by one surprise result. We were almost out of it a couple of weeks ago before our defeat of Hibs and the breath-taking Parkhead game turned things upside down. We can still miss out but based on results there is no reason not to think we can do it. We dismantled United on their last visit to Fir Park and we have beaten Hibs three times out of four, including a thrashing on their own ground. We just won at Celtic for the first time in years and surely to goodness we are due a win over Rangers some time soon. It is time to believe. Now where is that flight timetable so I can get home for the party?