Cardiff City suffer injury blow ahead of vital QPR clash as manager makes 'mental' claim

Cardiff City have suffered an injury blow ahead of their crucial clash with QPR next Saturday. The Bluebirds are in real trouble near the bottom of the Championship table, just two points ahead of Derby County and Luton Town in the relegation zone, with the former having played a game less, a game they will play on Wednesday night.

The Bluebirds went into the international break on the back of a big away win over playoff hopefuls Blackburn Rovers, but they could only manage a home draw with Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, giving away a one-goal lead, and results elsewhere did not help them.

It’s going to be a real scrap down the bottom in the last seven games, with QPR even involved after their six game winless run that continued with defeat to Stoke City on Saturday. The Hoops are five points ahead of Cardiff and seven ahead of the drop, but Derby have a game in-hand, as mentioned, and the Hoops host Cardiff the weekend coming.

That means there is potential for Marti Cifuentes’ side to be just one point ahead of the drop and two points ahead of Cardiff by the time next weekend is over, should Derby win both their games and next weekend’s clash at Loftus Road go the way of the Welsh side.

Conversely. if QPR were to win next weekend, it would put eight points between them and Cardiff, all-but ending relegation fears in the process. That makes next weekend’s game a big one for both sides, and Cardiff won’t be helped by the loss of key player Joe Ralls to injury, likely for the rest of the season, with Aaron Ramsey having fallen to the same fate in recent weeks.

"He hurt his calf so he'll be out for three or four weeks. He probably won't feature again this season," said Cardiff boss Omer Riza on Saturday. “But he'll feature in other ways. He'll be around the group. He's a leader and we need that especially. If he comes back quicker than that then great, but if he doesn't, then you can't force it." Ralls has been with Cardiff since 2011, making 382 league appearances and well over 400 in all, but at 31 years of age, his time at the club may come to an end with his contract set to expire this summer.

It’s a big blow for Cardiff who need all the leaders they can get having showed a lack of killer instinct this season, allowing points to slip from their grasp all too often. "It just seems to be an element of a mental thing with the boys," Riza said after their draw with the Owls.

"They didn't apply enough pressure in the second half. They sat and allowed them to have a bit more time in the midfield areas, which put us on the back foot, which was disappointing. It's those moments in games, our players feel, maybe it's a subconscious thing, they know how important the three points are and it's a natural thing we are doing."

He added: “They [players] are going to be frustrated and disappointed. But we have 90 minutes to get the job done and we haven't done that We can't find excuses, we have to find solutions. We've spoken about it [mentality] a lot. Until you're in this position you can never understand how difficult it is for them on the pitch. You have to keep plugging away and look to QPR on the weekend."