Match Day Thread QPR v West Ham Utd

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Match Preview

QPR welcome West Ham United to Loftus Road for their penultimate home fixture of the 2014/15 Barclays Premier League season this afternoon.

In what promises to be one of the most keenly-fought relegation scraps in years, Rangers know victory is a must on a day when all eyes will be on the battle to beat the drop.

Burnley and in-form Leicester City meet at Turf Moor, whilst fellow strugglers Hull City face a tricky trip to Crystal Palace, and lowly Sunderland are also on their travels, away at Stoke City.

Rangers will be buoyed by a positive display, if not result, against Chelsea last time out, with the R’s impressing all and sundry with their organisation and resilience versus the Champions-elect.

That performance followed hot-on-the-heels of a 4-1 thrashing of West Bromwich Albion, coupled with a share of the spoils at Aston Villa in a six-goal thriller.

West Ham, meanwhile, are currently enduring their toughest spell of the season to date.

After occupying a place in the top eight for the lion’s share of the campaign, the Hammers now find themselves down in tenth place, having won only one of their last 11 top-flight fixtures.

Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City was their third away loss on the spin, with the on-going speculation regarding Sam Allardyce’s future still hanging over the club.

Rangers will be boosted by the return of Yun Suk-Young and Leroy Fer this weekend, but Rio Ferdinand remains sidelined.

James Tomkins is also out following his recent shoulder injury, whilst long-term injury victim Andy Carroll is unlikely to feature again this season.

Diafra Sakho (quad) and Guy Demel (calf) will also miss the trip to Loftus Road.

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Possible Starting Xl's

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Barton On The Task Ahead

QPR skipper Joey Barton looks ahead to Saturday’s clash against West Ham … Joey Barton believes QPR have the right characters for relegation fight QPR skipper has targeted eight points from final five games Rangers host West Ham at Loftus Road on Saturday JOEY Barton believes QPR have got the right type of players for the relegation scrap that lies in front of them. Rangers are currently two points adrift of safety with five games remaining, and as the R’s prepare to host West Ham at Loftus Road on Saturday, Barton has been speaking about the character that exists within the dressing room. “The lads have put in a phenomenal amount of effort, and anyone who has watched our games recently will have seen how much it means to us to stay in this league,” the skipper told www.qpr.co.uk. “I would expect that from every professional footballer – you have to care. That’s a prerequisite of being a footballer. “Pay packets go out the window. People who only care about their pay packets aren’t the sort that you want with you in a relegation fight. “People you want in this situation are people who are going to give you everything, and that’s what we have.” The R’s have picked up four points from their last three fixtures – a stunning 4-1 win at West Brom, a 3-3 draw at Aston Villa and a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to Chelsea in the 88th minute – and Barton says the performance against the league leaders must be viewed in the right light. “I don’t think we held them at bay, I think we were the better side,” he said. “We created the better chances, had more shots on target – they only had one shot on target, and that was the goal. HEADS UP: Barton says players have taken confidence from Chelsea performance “So at the end we were devastated but I think most people would expect the team sitting top of the table to beat you. “We take a lot of confidence from how we performed against them and how effective our gameplan was in nullifying them. “You could have taken negatives out of that game but we have taken positives from it – and rightly so. For 88 minutes we competed with the best team in the land, and were the better side. “We were disappointed at the end, but we’ve got to move on from that. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, certainly in this league. “We’ve got a massive game on Saturday against West Ham at our place and we’ve got to make sure we take maximum points.” R’s gaffer Chris Ramsey has targeted three wins from the final five games, while Barton believes eight points may be enough. IT'S FOUR! Barton was on target in recent 4-1 win at West Brom “I think you have to get to 34 points to give yourself a legitimate chance of staying in the league,” he explained. “We are on 26, so it’s very simple – we need to win games. You could go unbeaten between now and the end of the season with five draws but that won’t be enough. “So we have to win games. As a group of players, we need to embrace that and look forward to it, because that’s the situation we’re in.” Sam Allardyce brings his Hammers to W12 on the back of a poor run of form, but Barton says he is not interested in what the opposition does. His focus is on QPR “I know Sam, he signed me at Newcastle, so I know how his sides play having been part of them over the years, but I tend not to worry about the opposition,” he added. “In recent weeks we have focused on us. That’s where Chris has been really good – we don’t do as much on the opposition, we focus on what we’re about, us turning up and us being on it. “If we’re on it, we know we will give anyone a game. We turned up at West Brom and had a right go there, we turned up at Villa and had a right go there, and did the same against Chelsea. That’s all you can ask for. “We’re all in this predicament together – and it’s only us that can get us out of it.

” Alex SONG (Midfielder) West Ham United beat off interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs to complete the signing of Barcelona midfielder Alex Song on a season-long loan deal in August 2014. Song, 27, spent the last two seasons at the Nou Camp following his £15million move from Arsenal in the summer of 2012, playing 39 La Liga matches and winning the title in 2012/13. The Cameroon international, who can also play at centre-back, has played a starring role this season, showing his undoubted quality in anchoring the Hammers midfield.

R’s striker, Bobby Zamora: “Everyone's telling us which games we can win and which games we can't win, which is a load of rubbish to be honest. “We've got five games to go and West Ham are first up this weekend and that's our only focus. “Performance wise, since Chris came in, I think we've played really well. “We know how important the game is. It doesn't have to be pretty in these situations. We just need to get all three points.”

Hammers winger, Stewart Downing: “The (QPR) game earlier this season was probably one of the best games we’ve played at home. “I know they were in a bit of disarray then, but we played ever-so-well, got a goal early and that settled us down to play some really good stuff on the day. “It’s a totally different game, this one. They’ve got a bit of confidence now having had a couple of good results. They were unlucky against Chelsea so it’s going to be difficult for us, but I’m confident we can win it.”

QPR win: 7/5

Draw: 23/10

West Ham United win: 19/10

West Ham United 2, QPR 0 – Premier League – Saturday 5th October 2014 Scorer: o.g, Sakho QPR wins: 19 Draws: 19 West Ham United wins: 22 Referee: M Jones Assistant Referees: M Scholes & I Hussin Fourth Official: L Mason

''C'mon You Sooperhoops.........''​

 

I'm sorry but I took over an hour composing this match day thread. The site can't seem to handle the content. There's a lot missing and the format has been corrupted and it won't allow me to post the pictures etc. I'll try again in the morning if time allows but this aspect of the site is becoming very hard work.

 

WAGS

Captains Other Half's

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Georgia McNeil ( Barton's Missus ) and Carly Noble ( Mark Noble's Missus. )

 

That's it ... I'm done! Come on you R'sss!!!!