QPR Teetering on the Edge of the Premiership Abyss

QPR host Chelsea tomorrow, with the handshake between the gnarled and belligerent Warnock and the suave and sophisticated Villas-Boas serving as the perfect metaphor for the gulf between the two teams. Chelsea have a swagger in their play at present, QPR a stagger. Chelsea's reserves could probably give Warnock's boys a run for their money and not a single QPR player would make it into Chelsea's squad, never mind Villas-Boas' team.

So, only one result is possible right? Well wrong, of course, because football doesn't work like that. If it did, none of us would have to work because we could all put our mortgages on the results of games like this. The QPR boys will be fired up and Chelsea may have an off day after the 5-0 blitzing of Ghent. Stranger things have happened.

But even then, most would be amazed if QPR can muster more than a single point from the game - and I fully expect Chelsea to win by a two or three goal margin - at least. Torres is suspended, but that doesn't really matter. Warnock has lamented the loss of DJ Campbell, whilst Villas Boas will barely notice that Torres isn't available for selection - and that says it all!

And for QPR, a heavy home defeat will see them slide further down the table. Bolton and Sunderland meet, so one or both of these bottom four teams will edge closer. Indeed, victory for either is likely to see them climb above QPR in the table on goal difference. That is an uncomfortable prospect and puts the "good start" to the season into perspective just as the more difficult fixtures are about to start. A winner in the Wolves v Swansea game will also see the victors leapfrog QPR, pushing them still lower in the table. And the same applies to the victors in the Fulham and Everton game.

The bottom of the Premiership is closing up concertina fashion and QPR are going to have to play out of their skins over the next month to avoid being in the bottom three come the start of December. With unrest in the camp courtesy of Barton's comments about Adel Taarabt, things could start to fall apart big time as the pressure mounts.

Unless, of course, Warnock's Rangers shock us all by beating Chelsea tomorrow. Wright-Phillips has something to prove, doesn't he?