Joey Barton is under no illusions that Queens Park Rangers' fight to stay in the Premier League will be "easy" as the West London side prepare for a new term under Mark Hughes.

The former Fulham boss faces a challenge to keep Rangers in the Premier League after joining the club on Tuesday. However, Barton believes that Hughes could be the right man for the job.

"From what I'm hearing [Hughes] and his staff are really organised, they have good intensity in training and, as a manager, I think he is really fair," Barton told the club's official website. "It is not going to be easy. There are going to be a lot of battles ahead.

"When a new man comes in the intensity of training goes through the roof because people are out to play for places and perform. Hopefully we can build a bit of confidence from that and get a couple of good results on the board.

"This is going to be a testing two-month period for us now because we are playing a lot of teams in and around us in the league."

QPR sit one point above the drop zone.