Marti Cifuentes: QPR boss tells players to ignore table in battle to avoid drop

QPR were beaten at home by Middlesbrough last time out in the Championship

QPR boss Marti Cifuentes has warned his players they have "achieved nothing yet" in their bid to avoid relegation.

The Hoops have picked up 10 points in their last five games to lift them out of the Championship drop zone.

But they are winless in their last two matches and are just one point above 22nd-placed Huddersfield Town.

Just five points separate Swansea City in 15th and 23rd-placed Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship table, with nine games to go.

QPR will look to pick up a vital three points on Saturday against Sunderland, who are 12th in the league and on a wretched run of six straight defeats.

The R's were in the relegation zone as recently as 24 February, but Cifuentes, 41, insisted he and his players were not looking at the table and instead focusing on their own performances.

"Even though we managed to get out of the bottom three, it's very tight and I think it [looking at the relegation battle in the Championship table] will just create stress and put the focus where it shouldn't be.

"The focus is on us performing well, because if we perform well the results will come.

"And if the results come then the table will look better, that's pretty simple for me.

"I'm aware that this season might be really high numbers [of] points needed to get out of the bottom three, that's a fact.

"My focus is to make sure that the team plays every game better, that we improve as a team, and then things will happen."

QPR took maximum points from games against Bristol City, bottom-of-the-table Rotherham and league leaders Leicester City, before a home draw against West Bromwich Albion and a loss to Middlesbrough.

Sunderland's six losses have come against Huddersfield, Birmingham City, Swansea City, Norwich City, Leicester and Southampton.

But Cifuentes said it could make them "even more dangerous" at the Stadium of Light.

"To be in that spot where there is not much pressure in terms of the results, I think that just helps them to feel more relief and play according to the quality.

"So it's going to be a difficult game for us and we need to make sure we deliver a top, top level if we want to get something."