Stripped down

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The game, tomorrow, it's not half as big or important as some would have you believe. It's a side in form against a side that has no form.

We are the side in form, spirited away from home. A side full of quality and sitting 3rd in the league with ambitions to consolidate that position. QPR are in a dogfight they rarely turn up for. Disjointed, erratic. An anomaly of a win against Chelsea has given them hope, but they remain brittle.

If you strip away all the narrative and the glossed over sound-bites and superfluous attempts at creating headlines in the build up to this - what are you left with?

A London derby that is hardly one of seasoned blood and thunder. There's no hate for QPR. There is no particular rivalry there either. It's no different than going away to Reading or Aston Villa. It's a game we should be confident of winning whilst retaining the right balance of professionalism to avoid complacency. No different to most of our away trips this season, aside from the ones against the very top sides that require a different ilk of guile and mettle.

We shouldn't be losing away to a side that currently sits at the basement of the table on 13 points with only two wins to their name. If we lose this game we lose because we hand it over to them on a plate. Much like Chelsea did. They won't care how it happens if that does happen. They have nothing to lose and everything to lose, the onus and the pressure is on them not only as the home side but as a team that has to fight for every point because a single point might be the deciding one come the end of the season.

For us, a defeat will be an anomaly. A victory will not be defining.

This is about three points and nothing else. That's if you're only interested in the football and not the soap opera.