Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has claimed that his side's relegation battle should not be seen as a cause for concern because they "scraped promotion" to the Premier League last season.

The Hoops are currently sitting second from bottom in the table on 19 points, although just three points separate them and Everton in 12th place.

Barton told BBC Sport: "What people forget is that QPR scraped promotion. We didn't get promotion pulling up trees.

"We did it the hard way. We finished at least 10 points behind Leicester and Burnley. We should be bottom of the league, so if we can finish 17th it will have been a great season."

QPR lost 2-1 away at Burnley yesterday to suffer a league-record 10th successive away defeat since the start of the season.