Howard addressed the media on Wednesday afternoon and said: "The mentality in the camp has been very much business as usual so far, and we will build the week up later as we need to.
"As we talked about after the Guinness Premiership Final, there are the two sides -there is the winning is a habit, everyone is in great form and believes in themselves versus complacency. Teams can have a great performance one week and the next week just not turn up.
"But this is where the senior players have a massive role in making sure the mentality is right. At the moment everyone is pretty level emotionally. Come Friday, Saturday and then Sunday there will be a lot more."
Howard knows he will have to finalise his matchday 22 without scrum-half Harry Ellis and prop Martin Castrogiovanni, but has options in the rest of the squad. Ellis is having knee surgery after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament a fortnight ago and Castrogiovanni is sidelined with hamstring trouble.
"There are a few niggles and injuries in the squad, and we will have to see if they come through," he said. "The physios and medics have done a really good job, we have a reasonably fit squad. And, fortunately, there is an eight-day turnaround since our last game, which I am grateful for."
