Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes has revealed that Joey Barton was left out of his side's 2-0 loss to Manchester United in order to avoid the midfielder picking up a suspension.

Barton has already received nine yellow cards this season and one more against United would have resulted in a two-match ban for the QPR skipper.

With the amnesty kicking in after Sunday's controversial game, Barton is now safe from an accumulative suspension, but Hughes was unwilling to take the risk of his captain missing vital games unnecessarily.

"Joey is on nine bookings and we didn't want him to miss key games that we have coming up in the week," said Hughes.

"So I took the decision not to put him at risk. After the weekend the situation with suspensions is over so he can have a clear run with the matches ahead of us."

QPR currently sit 17th in the Premier League, only clear of Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic in the bottom three on goal difference.