Cardiff City boss issues injury update for QPR clash and sends 'need to win' warning

Cardiff City boss Omer Riza has been speaking about his side’s fitness and current mentality ahead of their crucial clash with QPR on Saturday. The Hoops welcome the Bluebirds knowing they could go into next week in the thick of the relegation battle should they come off second best.

QPR are currently five points ahead of Cardiff, who now occupy the final relegation spot, and a win for the Welsh side this weekend would reduce that gap to two, with no one up to 15th realistically safe at this point given how close things are at the moment.

Conversely, if QPR win this weekend, they can put eight points between themselves and Cardiff, likely ending any relegation fears with just six games remaining after this weekend.

Cardiff drew with Sheffield Wednesday at home last time out, following up an away win over Blackburn Rovers before the break, and as they prepare to face a QPR side winless in six, their head coach Riza has issued an injury update. He said: “Perry Ng won’t be available, he’s picked up a slight problem. Callum Robinson will be back in the squad, as will Chris Willock. Anwar El Ghazi has hurt his back and was unavailable in training today. Joe Ralls and Aaron Ramsey, the long-term injuries, they’re still out.”

Speaking about the game, he added: “Obviously there’s a little bit of edge to it, but that has to be used as a good thing. The players, the staff and the Club have to take that and use it as energy for the next games. We have a game coming up at the weekend and it’s one that we need to win. If you look at the league and the teams that could drop in there, it’s all very close. We know what we need to do.

"We’ve been saying it for a while now that we haven’t been able to pick up that vital win consistently. Our aim is to pick up points to stay out of that bottom three - we’re not interested in the other teams. We need to address our own problems and keep moving forwards.”

Riza on the relegation battle

Derby’s win over Preston in their game in-hand on Wednesday put Cardiff in the relegation zone, but Riza believes his side can call upon previous experience to haul themselves to safety. He said, as cited by WalesOnline: “We have been there before. We have been in it and out of it - we are in it again. We knew after the Sheffield Wednesday game we left ourselves open to that result yesterday [Derby beating Preston North End] and we are where we are. We have got a game coming up at the weekend and it's one we need to win,"

"People get nervous, there's a lot to lose. Fans look at it and they don't want to imagine what could happen. That's all part and parcel of football. I get it, I understand it. It's our jobs to make sure that doesn't happen. We will go into this game with the same mentality we did Sheffield Wednesday - especially the first half - and look to get a result."

The Cardiff boss added: “I’ve got full confidence in my players, I’ve got full confidence in my staff, I’ve got full confidence in the club and what we’ve done so far to get out of this situation, full confidence in our fans to keep doing what they’ve been doing all season, and I’ve got full confidence in myself to make sure we get out of this situation.

"We’ve been in this predicament for quite some time and surviving at the end of it would be like winning a cup final. There’s a lot riding on it, the history of the club, the players themselves, what they can lose, what the club can lose, what we can lose as staff, as fans. We understand all of this. The pressures are there. But these pressures, you either sink or swim and I want us to make sure we swim.”