• QPR face Stoke City at home before trip to Manchester City
• Bolton Wanderers host West Brom before going to Stoke
Mark Hughes knows that Queens Park Rangers need all three points from their game against Stoke City at Loftus Road if they are to keep their Premier League survival hopes alive: only goal difference separates the west London club from the relegation zone, with two matches remaining, the last of which is a trip to title-chasing Manchester City on Sunday week.
"It is a huge game and we understand totally the significance of it," Hughes said. "Given our position and the position of the teams in and around us – and the points accrued at this point – then obviously we need to get maximum points.
"It is going to be difficult because Manchester City put you under pressure and they've got good weapons.
"We'll have to be able to combat that but, in fairness, if we play as well as we have in our home games against Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Swansea then we'll be fine.
"With the intensity of our game and the determination that we show in our home games with the fantastic support that we have, then we have a real chance of getting maximum points, which we desperately need."
QPR need to erase from their minds the 6-1 humbling at west London rivals Chelsea last Sunday, the manner of which has led to many writing off the final game at the Etihad Stadium, but Hughes is interested only in the match against Stoke – in 14th on 44 points but perhaps hopeful of finishing in the top half of the table – at the moment.
"We know we have got two difficult games," he said. "Stoke, whoever they go up against, will always test you and always put you under pressure at some point in the game.
"They will create chances because of the way they play and the way they approach the game.
"We have got to be able to cope with that and the Man City game – which we're not really looking that far ahead, to be perfectly honest – is a different kind of test, but we will face that once we have got the Stoke game out of the way."
QPR will be boosted by the return of the Morocco international Adel Taarabt after suspension, although it is yet to be seen whether Samba Diakité will be well enough to play. "Adel comes back into the picture," Hughes said.
"His form, certainly at home, has been very good. He has been scoring goals again, which is important. We have the option of Adel again and apart from Samba, most of the guys are now available.
"Samba has had a virus which has knocked him for six. Obviously he was very fatigued so we've been quite easy with him, tried to build him up and hopefully he will be an option at the weekend.
"At the moment he is just doing light training so we're not sure if he is going to be available, but apart from him everybody else who was available last week is available."
One place below QPR, in 18th, Bolton Wanderers coincidentally also face a potential decider against Stoke, in their final game of the season, but host West Bromwich Albion, who are coming to terms with the forthcoming departure of their manager, Roy Hodgson, to the England job.
The effect that news may have on the Baggies – comfortably mid-table in 10th with 46 points – remains to be seen. Although Hughes has expressed concern, saying he was "a little bit disappointed", that the Football Association made a public move for Hodgson during the relegation run-in, the Bolton manager, Owen Coyle, is not convinced that Hodgson's appointment will have any bearing on West Brom's performance at the Reebok Stadium.
"I don't see why it would be a hindrance," Coyle said. "I would love it to be, but I don't see why. They have the England manager now, he is an outstanding man and they have very good players.
"But we have to focus on what we can do at Bolton and make sure we get to our best. If we do that, we have shown that we can win points and win games." Read More
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