"That is the only way we are going to get through. People losing their heads is going to be no good for anyone," he says.
"We have gone six games unbeaten which is good and we should use that confidence for the last five games.
"It is the proverbial six pointer and we have got to win. It won't put us above them unless we handsomely beat them.
"But one thing you can say about Bolton is that they are defending very well of late and not letting in many goals - but we can win."
And not winning?
"That is not an option. It is another game, we have got to win - it is as simple as that.
"We are looking to win all five of our games. You can only approach the games in the right way and that is what we try to do."
Looking at last weekend's draw against his former club - and the display of ex-colleague Peter Enckelman, so influential in earning Villa a point, David says: "Looking at the points situation Saturday didn't really go our way although with Bolton losing it has kept us in touching distance.
"It was a great performance by Peter Enckelman; he was in inspired form.
"It was disappointing not to have won but then you have to look at the game itself and we created a lot of chances with him making good saves, so credit where credit is due.
"Peter had an inspired day but what can you do about it?
"We created the chances and had the shots - he made the saves, and there was no lack of effort there.
"The rest of it was all right in the main. There were a couple of incidents which didn't help myself but on another day we would have won that match."
One of those was a clash with Marcus Allback, which the referee didn't spot, but David will only say coyly: "He just got in the way, didn't he?"
The hope now is that Bolton don't get in the way of those survival aspirations.