Charlie Austin believes Queens Park Rangers are ready to kick-start their fight for Barclays Premier League survival when they return to action against Arsenal on Wednesday.
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QPR did not play last weekend due to Tottenham Hotspur’s involvement in the Capital One Cup final and they watched from Dubai as Sunderland, Burnley and Aston Villa, who are also fighting relegation, all lost.
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Chris Ramsey’s side are out of the bottom three on goal difference only, but have a match in hand on all of the teams around them, with the exception of bottom-club Leicester City. Austin, QPR’s top scorer in the league with 14 goals, is confident they have what it takes to haul themselves clear.
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“We’re raring to go, we have got two big games at home coming up [with Spurs visiting on Saturday],” he told qpr.co.uk. “Hopefully we can continue our home form.
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“We’ve got 12 games left, a big 12 games – it’s a 12-game season now for us, hopefully we can get enough points.”
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QPR’s home form had been in stark contrast to their away record until the end of December, but the west London club have taken just two points from their last four outings at Loftus Road.
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Successive defeats by Manchester United and Southampton have harmed their bid for survival, and Wednesday’s visit of another Uefa Champions League-chasing team is sure to represent a tough test.
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Arsenal sit just four points adrift of second-placed Manchester City after their 2-0 win over Everton on Sunday, and goalkeeper David Ospina feels upbeat despite last Wednesday’s Uefa Champions League defeat by Monaco.
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“We know we are close to them now but we need to concentrate on ourselves and not think about them [City],” said the Colombia goalkeeper. “We will keep doing our job, picking up points and then see what happens.
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“After what happened against Monaco, the only thing that was important was to continue increasing our confidence and keeping heading up the table. Now we are already thinking about the next one, which is QPR.”
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been handed a fitness boost, with midfielder Aaron Ramsey returning to the match-day squad.
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