QPR manager Harry Redknapp admits preserving QPR’s Premier League status is the most daunting challenge of his long career.

Redknapp arrives at Loftus Road after Mark Hughes’s sacking last week with his new side bottom of the table and without a win after 13 league matches this season.

The 65-year-old has hauled both Tottenham and Portsmouth away from the relegation zone in the past.

But, speaking at his first press conference as QPR boss yesterday, he conceded the task of lifting the struggling west London team out of the bottom three is the toughest test he has ever faced.

“We mustn’t kid ourselves, this is much tougher than those two jobs in my opinion, but I’m optimistic we can pull it off,” Redknapp said.

“I want to be successful here. I want to keep this team in the Premier League.

“If the players try as hard as I am going to try we’ll be successful.”

Redknapp is back in management after leaving Tottenham under a cloud at the end of last season when he fell out with chairman Daniel Levy and is keen to make the most of his latest challenge.

“We’ve got to do better to give ourselves any chance of getting out of this mess,” he said.

“I need 11 people with ability to put effort in. The players have got to up their performance level and get us out of trouble.”

Premier League fixtures
Today: 20.45 Sunderland vs Queens Park Rangers. 21.00 Aston Villa vs Reading.
Tomorrow: 20.45 Everton vs Arsenal; Swansea vs West Brom; Tottenham vs Liverpool; Southampton vs Norwich; Chelsea vs Fulham; Stoke vs Newcastle. 21.00 Man. United vs West Ham; Wigan vs Man. City.

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