Show some fight: Mark Hughes wants QPR to be fearless
against Manchester United
QPR manager Mark Hughes
wants his side to put in a fearless performance against
title-chasing Manchester United on Sunday.
Sir Alex Ferguson's side go into
the Old Trafford clash looking to open up an eight-point gap over
rivals Manchester City at the top with an eighth successive
Barclays Premier League victory.
QPR will be looking to end that
run and head to the north west on the back of a morale-boosting 2-1
victory against Arsenal.
The Hoops also recently overcame
Liverpool and Hughes believes the bigger sides bring the best out
of his team.
'I think [we have raised our
game against the top sides], certainly at home,' he
said.
'Our home form has been decent,
it is only in these games where we have been down to 10 men we have
struggled at home.
'Against the top sides, I think
we have really acquitted ourselves well.
'We go into those games thinking
that we will give it our best shot and that has helped us and has
enabled us to get really positive results.
'Obviously leading into the game
against Man United, you have to have a positive
approach.
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win over Arsenal
'I don't think you can
go to Old Trafford and have fear because United will sense that and
exploit that.
'You have to be positive, have
belief in what you are trying to do on the day and see where it
takes you.'
Asked why his players act
differently against the big names, Hughes added: "It is difficult
to put your finger on it.
'Maybe a little bit of the
pressure is off, there is no expectation from outside the club
about what we can do against the top teams.
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Bobby Zamora to lead their line at Old Trafford
'Against Liverpool and
Arsenal in recent weeks, we obviously weren't expected to win and
it will be a similar case on Sunday as well.
'We're not expected to take
anything out of that game but is about time we started picking up
points on our travels
'There is no better place than
Old Trafford to make a statement of intent given the games we have
to face.
'If we can go there and
obviously take something from United, that will be great for us in
terms of confidence and belief.'
That confidence will be vital if
QPR are to stave off relegation, with trips to Chelsea, West Brom
and Manchester City still to come.
The Rs also welcome Swansea,
Tottenham and Stoke to Loftus Road as they look to add to their
28-point haul heading into the game.
While that is a relatively low
figure for this stage of the season, Hughes does not believe any of
the struggling clubs will need to make the 40-point mark to stay
up.
'It is difficult to say what it
will be, but I think the lowest point total has been something like
34,' he said.
'I don't think it will be as low
as that but it won't be as high as 40. I think it will be the
mid-mark of those two points.
'We would like to think we can
get to 40 still. There is still a possibly of doing that as there
is enough points on offer.
'But we're realistic in terms of the opposition that we're
going up against that it may be difficult to do that but we will
give it our best shot.'
