Lurching from the sublime to the atrocious, QPR have been anything but dull. One last surprise is not out of the question

It has been evident for some time that there would be something serious at stake on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium. What was less evident until last Sunday teatime was that both teams in this game would have their seasons decided on the last day. Only then, with Djibril Cissé's later-than-late winner for Queens Park Rangers against Stoke – coupled with West Bromwich Albion's comeback at Bolton – did it become apparent that Rangers would go into the last game of the season with a genuine chance of survival. And they have done so despite themselves.

Last time the club were in the top flight the QPR fans would taunt opposing fans with the chant "Same old Rangers, taking the piss". They could do so again now – but the people who have had the piss taken out of them have been the ones turning up every week to watch a team that can lurch from sublime to atrocious within a week and often have.

It is hard to know where to start when detailing the key events in a season that has not once offered moments of quiet stability. Rangers have changed owners, changed managers, changed the bulk of the team. They have bought, largely unsuccessfully, at the budget end of the market – DJ Campbell and Jay Bothroyd have made negligible impact at Loftus Road, due to injury in Campbell's case, and a combination of poor form and misuse in Bothroyd's (big man he may be; big, strong centre-forward he is not).

They have bought, with decidedly mixed results, at the pricier end – be that in wages or fees (Shaun Wright-Phillips managed a couple of good games in the autumn, then faded bafflingly; Joey Barton finally provoked boos from his home crowd before finding form in recent weeks; and Cissé remains equal parts hero and villain, with five goals and two red cards).

They have finished eight games with 10 men; they have beaten Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal; they have looked like a League One team on their travels – and that is being generous to the performances at Blackburn, Sunderland, Chelsea and Fulham. The club even managed to enrage the data protection registrar by publishing the email address of a fan who leaked team news ahead of a game.

At least it has not been dull.

Few at Loftus Road, or anywhere else, gave QPR much hope of survival after they lost 2-1 at Bolton on 10 March. That left Rangers 18th in the table on 22 points, level with Wolves and two ahead of Wigan, who had a game in hand. At that pointand given the way the team were playing, it was possible to look down the fixture list and predict, without it seeming too outlandish, that QPR might not pick up another point. The way they had been playing certainly offered no clue that they might somehow salvage hope from a run-in that would have given a title-challenger pause, let alone a team facing relegation.

The turning point – the moment that sparked the revival that has given Rangers unforeseen hope of avoiding the drop – came round about 9.30pm on 21 March, when Shaun Derry scored what looked to be a consolation against a Liverpool team that had dominated the game and led Rangers 2-0 with 15 minutes to play at Loftus Road. After Derry's goal Liverpool fell apart, handing a 3-2 win to QPR, a result that lifted both the crowd and the team.

The four subsequent home games – all won, against Arsenal, Swansea, Spurs and Stoke – were played out in front of raucous crowds, baying derision at the away sides. That is one part of the QPR revival and it should not be underestimated: at Loftus Road the fans are right up against the pitch, and, given something to shout about, the crowds have responded unceasingly. More important, though, has been that the team finally started playing like a team, rather than a bunch of overpaid, undermotivated individuals.

The 4-5-1 Mark Hughes was forced to adopt when Cissé picked up his second suspension has not always been pretty to watch but – with Bobby Zamora putting in Stakhanovite efforts to occupy opposing centre-backs and Jamie Mackie and Adel Taarabt rushing forward to aid him when possible – it has given the team purpose. Here, at last, was the tactical superiority to Neil Warnock that Hoops fans assumed he would bring when he replaced the Championship winner in the manager's office (Warnock, too, had tried 4-5-1, but with little success). On the road, of course, they forget everything they remember at home.

If anything has been learned at Loftus Road this season, by fans and staff alike, it is that players will defy expectations. Too many of the supposed new stars have been anything but or have revealed devastating temperament flaws (and rumours from well-placed sources suggest growing resentment among the old guard of players about the new mix of money and arrogance in the dressing room).

But, equally, some of the players regarded as likely to fail at the top level have performed heroics. Clint Hill, who was shunted out on loan earlier in the season, has been central to the clean sheets in the last three home games. Mackie, whose tactical nous extends to running as fast as he can towards the opposing end, has chipped in with six crucial goals. Even Taarabt has learned to track back and, on occasion, tackle, even if he has not been the dominant figure of last season.

Everyone expects QPR to lose on Sunday afternoon. But would it not be typical QPR if they were somehow to steal a draw – only for Bolton to belt nine past Stoke and send the Hoops down on goals scored – unlikely of course, all but impossible but somehow very Rangers.