QPR boss sends Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town message in Leeds United call to arms

QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes has sent a strong message to his players, and other sides in and amongst his team in the league, ahead of Friday night's meeting with Leeds United at Loftus Road.

A win against the promotion-chasing Whites would see QPR confirm their place in the Championship next season. However, it's set to be a tricky task with Daniel Farke's side still fighting to keep their place in the top two with Ipswich Town breathing down their neck.

The hosts, whose form has been hit and miss since Easter weekend, go into the fixture as underdogs but Cifuentes is determined that his side decides their own future rather than leaving it up to other results.

Writing in his programme notes, Cifuentes sent a fired-up message to supporters as he claimed that the likes of Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday weren't relegation rivals for his side.

He wrote: "Our destiny is in our own hands - that's the message I have given the boys. We have to ignore what other teams are doing and just focus on ourselves.

"In our eyes, we don't have any relegation rivals - we're just thinking about doing our job as best we can to achieve our goal. There's a lot at stake now in the run-in, and emotions are running high, but we still have to be wary."

QPR picked up three points last time out in a mammoth victory over Preston North End at Loftus Road. Lyndon Dykes bagged the only goal in that game, his first since January, and Cifuentes called on the marksman to find more against Leeds United and Coventry City next week.

He wrote: "We were all delighted for Lyndon Dykes to get the winning goal. He deserved that moment, he's a great lad and a top professional.

"Strikers live and breathe goals and when they go through these spells without scoring, you have to support them and make them feel valued. It happens to everyone - goals are the most difficult and valuable thing in our sport. Now we need Lyndon to be firing on all cylinders again in our remaining two cup finals."