Joey Barton believes QPR can stay up despite 1-0 Chelsea defeat

Captain was named Man of the Match against west London rivals

Cesc Fabregas' 88th minute goal the difference at Loftus Road

CAPTAIN Joey Barton was devastated at the full-time whistle on Sunday but admitted that QPR showed enough belief to beat the drop this season.





Rangers looked to be heading for a well-deserved point against Chelsea until Cesc Fabregas’ 88th minute sucker punch.





And Barton – Man of the Match following an industrious display in the middle of midfield – believes the R’s can use the positives from his sides display to help them avoid relegation.





“I’m devastated,” Barton told www.qpr.co.uk. “We deserved at least a point.





“It is a tough pill to swallow right now, the lads are gutted as we put everything into it.









MOTM: QPR midfielder Joey Barton was excellent against Chelsea





“I’m not sure how many shots Chelsea had on target but you have to be switched on for 90 minutes.





“Greeney is gutted but to be fair to him he has saved us 12-15 points this season. We are a team and we take that on chin.





“It was a great effort and atmosphere and if we play like that until the end of the season then we should win enough games.”





QPR had competed against the Premier League Champions-elect at Loftus Road and looked on course to secure a draw.





And Barton said he could see the relief on the R’s west London rivals faces at full-time.









HEADS-UP: Barton beats Chelsea goalscorer Cesc Fabregas to the ball





“A point would have been a fair result against a side that are a number of points clear at the top of the table,” said the 32-year-old.





“You can see what it meant to them to win the game, they knew how difficult it was.





“That is the beauty of the Premier League – Real Madrid and Barcelona don’t play teams in the bottom three and have such tough encounters, which is why this is such a great league and everyone wants to watch it.”





With just five matches remaining QPR are still two points from safety and Barton and co. are up for the scrap.





“We were written off a couple of months ago but we kept the belief in the camp,” he said.





“We are game for the fight, we are going to have to scrap all the way until the end of May but we knew that in August and we are looking forward to it.”





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