Marti Cifuentes suggests there is no secret to QPR’s clean bill of health as relegation battle reaches climax

QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes believes it is his players who deserve credit for the lack of injuries at the club ahead of a vital few weeks for the west Londoners.

With Rangers currently just one point above the Championship relegation zone with nine games left to play, Cifuentes’ only fitness concerns are Rayan Kolli’s hamstring issue and a calf injury picked up by Taylor Richards.

The Spaniard hinted his training methods may also be benefitting the squad but was quick to praise his players ahead of the trip to Sunderland on Saturday.

“It could be that I am a lucky manager,” joked Cifuentes.

“We need to give credit to the guys. They have been acting in a professional way since I arrived. We have been pretty clear with everyone in the squad that we are going to need all of them if we are going to succeed in what we are doing.

“The job is not easy, even though people think it is very easy to be a professional footballer, it requires a lot of commitment. They need to take care of their body, they need to take care of themselves and act in a professional way. Most of the credit goes to them.

“Then of course there is the staff working behind them relentlessly to try to help them, try to assess them on how they can get better. Perhaps a certain kind of training periodisation is helping them to perform but I think most of the credit must go to them.

“Arriving at the end of the season with as many players as possible in good shape, and as many players available to play and compete, that is going to be crucial for all of the teams and we are not an exception.

“When it’s a busy schedule like last week we do our best to help the players recover well. We try to split minutes [between players]. I wouldn’t say we have a plan, but we try to discuss with the staff the possible scenarios for the game, how we can rotate and best use players.

“We know that there are some players that are more prepared to play three games in a row, some others it is better to give them some rest in between. We try to assess all of this and try to do all of the things that many other clubs are doing, in terms of recharging, allowing them to recover well and prepare for the next game.”