Julien Stephan says QPR's focus until the end of the season is on bedding in the club's crop of young talent.

The Hoops have dropped to the bottom-half and on the very fringes of the play-off race after a run of one win in five since toppling leaders Coventry on 31 January.

Stephan told BBC Radio London: "The main target is to stay focused on the football and the performance and how we can give maturity and experience to the young players.

"We have a competitive mindset so we want to win games but the main thing now is to give young players experience.

"Their objective is to show their quality and show some improvement game after game, it's very important.

"We have to play until the last minute of the last game of the season. It was a good surprise for everybody to be in the first part of the table until the middle of February.

"We have dropped in terms of results and have a very difficult game against Middlesbrough, a very tough schedule in the next weeks.

"We need to keep a positive and competitive mindset on the pitch and be strong mentally."

With 11 games of a gruelling and thrilling Championship promotion race to go, Middlesbrough are primed to end a spell of nine years away from the Premier League.

If they can finish in the top two when the music stops in early May their unassuming head coach Kim Hellberg will write himself into Boro folklore.

But go back to the start of the campaign and there's a fair chance few, if any, of the club's supporters would have known who Hellberg was.

Previously working back home at Hammarby, the 38-year-old Swede arrived at the Riverside Stadium in November as an unheralded replacement for Rob Edwards, who had left for Wolves.

However, in the space of a few months, some thrilling football, allied to warmth and humility off the pitch, means Teesside has taken Hellberg to its heart.

In an exclusive interview with BBC Radio Tees, the Boro head coach opened up on how he has come from the lower reaches of Swedish football to the brink of the English top flight.

Image source, Shutterstock

Extending the Championship play-offs from four to six teams will add more intensity and excitement to the season while giving more teams a chance to 'get the golden ticket.'

Championship bosses have reacted to the news EFL clubs voted to take the play-offs down to eighth place from next season.

The new system is similar to the format used in the National League and means teams finishing from third to eighth will compete for promotion to the Premier League.

Clubs finishing third and fourth will progress directly to the semi-final, while a one-legged quarter-final will be played with fifth at home to eighth and sixth hosting seventh.

Click here for more.

Image source, Opta/Shutterstock

Coventry's 2-0 win at Bristol City yesterday afternoon took the Sky Blues eight points clear at the top of the table, but Boro have the chance to reduce that deficit this afternoon.

Millwall just keep going with their win at Hull taking them above Ipswich, who had to settle for a point at home to battling Leicester.

QPR are closer to the play-offs than the drop-zone but feel rather adrift in mid-table.

Although a win over Boro would not only complete a Loftus Road double over the top-two this season, it would take them back up to 11th and within seven points of the top six.

Image source, Getty Images

Friday

• Preston 1-3 Oxford

Saturday

• Blackburn 1-1 Portsmouth
• Bristol City 0-2 Coventry
• Charlton 1-0 Birmingham
• Derby 2-1 Sheff Wed
• Hull City 1-3 Millwall
• Ipswich 1-1 Leicester
• Sheff Utd 1-1 West Brom
• Swansea 2-0 Stoke

Image source, Getty Images

Serie A might have the Milan derby this evening, but, beyond that, you probably won't find a bigger league match on Planet Football this Sunday.

A season of promise for QPR under Julien Stephan, which had them in the play-off places in early December, has rather fizzled out since Christmas, with the Rs dropping into the bottom half.

Their visitors Middlesbrough are a different story, four straight wins under Rob Edwards to start the season has had them in the top-three throughout, and despite his defection to Wolves, Kim Hellberg has kept the Boro ship on track, taking them top of the pile a month ago before a three-game blip allowed Coventry to seize back the initiative in the title race.

There's much to discuss ahead of kick-off in 30 minutes so let's jump straight in.