Sunday’s 1-0 win over Tottenham lifted the Black Cats back into the top half of the table and took Regis Le Bris’ side to within one point of seventh-placed Brentford.
The exact make-up of European qualification will not be finalised until the end of the season, with the outcome of the Europa League, Conference League and FA Cup all potentially influencing how many teams will be able to secure a European spot via their finishing position in the Premier League.
As things stand, it looks extremely likely that a seventh-place finish will secure European qualification, with the team finishing eighth also expected to have a good chance of claiming a European spot of some description for next season.
There is even a scenario where the top 11 finishers could all qualify for Europe – albeit that it would need a series of fairly remarkable events for that to unfold – but while Roefs regards European football as a potentially exciting prospect, like his head coach, he is refusing to look too far into the future.
“We want to push as far as we can,” said the Black Cats goalkeeper, who made a successful return from injury in Saturday’s win over Spurs. “Of course, if we are six games away and Europe is in our sights then we do everything we can to go for it.
“But we need to stay humble and we need to be at our best in every game and we will see where we are at the end of the season.
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“I think from the beginning of the season we had the belief that we could do something special. We have so much talent and, at the same time, a good experience in the team.
“But at the same time we need to stay really humble because we also see that when we are maybe a little bit off it, or we're not 100 per cent, we get beat by our opponents.
“I think this [Sunday’s win] shows that against a really good side, even though they're struggling, if we are at our best we can make it difficult for every team. So, we just need to keep on doing good and we'll see what happens.”
Sunday’s victory marked a return to action after a three-week hiatus that encompassed both the international break and FA Cup quarter-final weekend.
“We’d had seven weeks in a row without a break, no internationals, no nothing [before the international break],” said Roefs. “So, it was just about getting back into the rhythm of winning games and hopefully we will push as far as we can.
“We will see where we end. As I said, we're going to push as hard as we can every day on the training pitch and in the games, and we will see where that brings us.”