QPR boss Mark Warburton says his side will come up against a Nottingham Forest team thriving under the guidance of Steve Cooper on Wednesday night.
Ex-Reds manager Warburton returns to the City Ground in midweek for a six-pointer between the two promotion-hopefuls. And he is well aware of the threat the hosts will pose.
Forest have gone from propping up the table when Cooper arrived last September, to pushing for the play-offs as the season’s run-in approaches. Saturday’s 4-0 rout over Reading moved them to within two points of the top six ahead of the latest round of fixtures.
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Rangers, meanwhile, beat Luton Town 2-1 on Sunday as they bounced back from two successive defeats. Warburton is expecting to follow that up with a tough test on the banks of the Trent, pointing to the talent his opposite number has in his ranks.
“They have a very good squad,” he told QPR’s official website. “If you look at the strength in depth they have, they have several big players and a very talented squad.
“Steve is a very good manager, I am sure the players are responding to some excellent coaching. It’s a fan base that is desperate for success, they have been out of the Premier League for a very long time now.
“There has been good investment in the squad, they are working well, playing well, in a rich vein of form, they have been playing well in the FA Cup with some big scalps against some good sides, so things are looking very rosy. Congratulations to them, of course, but from our point of view, we have to go there and be on the front foot, meet the challenge, enjoy it and make sure that we deliver a good QPR performance.”
He added: “Sunday’s victory was important, obviously in terms of league standings, but we now face a very tough challenge away to Nottingham Forest. Heading into the weekend there were a lot of doubters about QPR, our form and everything else, so it was more than pleasing to go to Luton and get all three points – especially in that manner.
“But the league is so very tight and as we know the games come thick and fast and it certainly is going to be an interesting few weeks now. We have had a difficult month, a blip and here we are in fourth. So, I think for us we have come through it, we have had some difficult games but here we are, we have 10 games to go now.
“At the start of the season we spoke about what represented success for QPR and after coming ninth last season and 13th the year before, we said we must be in and around the play-offs. And we have only been outside the top six once in the last few weeks.
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“So the players deserve enormous credit for where we are. We have some big games coming up, everyone plays everyone, but this is the Championship and we must embrace the challenge and relish what’s to come.”
