"I’m pretty sure of that" - Gareth Ainsworth makes confident QPR prediction | OneFootball

Highlights

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Queens Park Rangers boss Gareth Ainsworth believes his side won't end up being relegation battlers this season, speaking to West London Sport.

The R's have made an average start to the campaign, but that's perhaps to be expected following their worrying decline during the second half of last term.

Coming close to being relegated, wins at Burnley and Stoke City saved them in the end, but they have been tipped to be in the relegation battle this season with the division arguably getting tougher.

Recently-promoted team Ipswich Town have started the season very well, Cardiff City looked to have improved since last season and the three sides that have been relegated from the Premier League all look strong.

With this in mind, the West London side have their work cut out in Ainsworth's quest to finish above the drop zone again at the end of this campaign.

Where are QPR currently sitting?

Following last night's draw away at Birmingham City, which is a good result on paper, they are currently in 17th place.

Having accumulated eight points from eight league games, they have kept themselves above the drop zone for now but they will want to improve on their current points-to-games ratio to ensure they can get themselves into a more comfortable position.

50 points is usually the target for any side wanting to avoid relegation and although 46 is close to that, they aren't guaranteed to stay up with that total, so improvements do have to be made.

They face Coventry City, Leeds United and Blackburn Rovers before the next international break, with all three likely to be very difficult opponents for Ainsworth's men.

As previously mentioned, a lot of people have tipped the R's to be in a relegation dogfight and that isn't a surprise considering how poor they were for much of last term.

But Ainsworth believes his team will silence their doubters, saying: "I’m telling you we’re going to upset some of these critics who tipped us for a relegation battle.

"We’re going to be far from that, I’m pretty sure of that."

They have some excellent players at their disposal and some of them shouldn't be anywhere near a relegation battle.

Asmir Begovic is a solid option to have between the sticks and the additions of Steve Cook and Morgan Fox could prove to be vital.

Both are excellent at this level and could help to shut teams out. Jack Colback could also be very useful defensively and he will be hoping his red card against Sunderland is the lowest point of his time at Loftus Road.

Sam Field is another magnificent asset to have in the middle of the park and at the top end of the pitch, the likes of Ilias Chair, Chris Willock and Lyndon Dykes can all be lethal at this level. If their main stars can step up to the plate, it would be difficult to see QPR being relegated.