Having had a chance to check out the rest of last night's action, it seems only fair to give a mention to QPR. In all honesty, I had written off their chances of even getting a point against Liverpool, even after seeing that Shaun Derry had pulled a goal back. My attentions had turned to writing last night's blog post and I hadn't even checked how the result turned out. I was therefore somewhat stunned to read the score of QPR 3-2 Liverpool. It is an intriguing scoreline and one that makes for a very interesting bottom to the Premier League table. Few would fancy any of the bottom clubs to pick up more than a small handful of points in their remaining games, such has been their poor form overall. However, even fewer would have backed QPR to pick up more than the odd win given the daunting look of their run-in. There was a difficulty in Rangers even being able to climb out of the bottom three at any point, or at least one would have imagined so. Now they sit two points clear of the drop, albeit having played a game more than Bolton - the same Bolton who are clearly still shaken by the harrowing experience of seeing Fabrice Muamba collapse to the turf. There is obviously still a long way to go in this relegation dogfight, and the current table will not decide anything. What you can say, though, is that you would rather be the team in possession of the points at any given stage, given the problems all the sides at the wrong end of the table will have in picking them up.
For QPR, the three points stolen from Liverpool will be all too welcome. With a horrible run of games to come, an unexpected win will be a huge boost to the club, not least as it was a fighting comeback win that showed far more reserve of spirit than anyone thought Mark Hughes' side had. Their next game suddenly looks more winnable too, with Sunderland having lost at another relegation candidate, Blackburn, on Tuesday. Martin O'Neill's side may just have one eye on an FA Cup replay with Everton when Rangers visit at the weekend. It is a must-win game for QPR considering the inform Arsenal and Manchester United surely are a tougher prospect in the two games that follow than fragile Liverpool proved last night. Where QPR have hope is that they possess strikers of genuine quality, particularly Djibril Cisse who will have enjoyed getting one over on his old employers with the equalising goal. Wolves may have Stephen Fletcher, but what use is a ten-a-season striker when the backline have been conceding ten goals over every two games of late? Wigan just don't score goals it seems, and Bolton similarly lack firepower. Goals win games and that is the main thing in QPR's favour as they head in to an almost impossible run of games.
Then there is Liverpool. What looked like a promising season on paper before the big kick off in August has turned in to an underwhelming mess of draws and defeats where victory should have been a near-certainty. Even their seasonal highlight, the Carling Cup win, took a penalty shootout over a Championship club. It is remarkable that they are almost equidistant between 5th place Chelsea and 14th place Norwich, as their bumbling performances do not scream "European chasing" by any stretch (ignoring the fact they have already secured a Europa League spot by winning that shootout with Cardiff) and one would expect them to sit closer to the lower-mid table. Their problems seem to be that their policy of signing big fish from small ponds has not paid off, with the likes of Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing being shown up as distinctly average now that expectations have been placed on their lightweight shoulders. They also have failed to find a solution to their striking problems, relying too heavily on a Uruguayan with a penchant for picking up suspensions and missing easy chances. When a £35m Andy Carroll can't even get a decent run in a side that struggles to score goals, it tells you all you need to know about the success of that signing. Another summer makeover looks likely at Anfield, but there are only so many times big changes can be made before a club becomes completely unstable.
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