After victory over Burnley yesterday, Newcastle meet Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League before the Northeast derby.
"That won't be a problem for the players," said Howe.
"We won't have our minds on the next game before this one. It's a Champions League game against Leverkusen away, this.
"There's no greater prize for us than that game, so Sunderland will come into focus when it needs to, but not before."
Asked if the Sunderland game was now on his mind, Howe said: "Yeah, of course. It's in my mind, we're planning all the time two or three games ahead without taking our eye off the immediate task.
"We go to Leverkusen now. It's a huge game in our Champions League season. All focus will be on that but in the back of my mind I'll be preparing a team and preparing a game-plan for that match."
He continued: "We're experiencing that ourselves currently.
"Ten points from 12, especially with the fixtures that we've had, is no mean feat, so we're very, very pleased with that return, although sitting here right now, all I'm feeling is that last five minutes.
"But you have to put it in context. We've had games where we've been the other team – we played with 10 men against Liverpool and were outstanding, and for me should have arguably won the game and we lost the game in the last seconds – so we've been the other team, and today we had a bit of luck.
"But I don't think we've had a lot this season, so we'll take it.
"In the broader scheme of things when you look at the league table, it's so tight, as you say. There are a lot of games to come and I believe we're getting better, so let me try to stick to that thought without deviating too far."