Stephan states QPR need more than 50 points

QPR boss Julien Stephan says his side need one more win against Portsmouth on Saturday to cement their Championship status for next season, despite hitting the 50-point mark with victory at Leicester City last weekend.

The Rs ended a dismal run of four consecutive defeats with a 3-1 comeback win at King Power Stadium to reach a half-century of points with eight matches of the season remaining.

It is a milestone that is traditionally referenced to confirm safety from relegation but Stephan, who is in his first year managing in English football, believes his team need two or three more points to guarantee their place in the second tier next term.

"I don't think 50 points is enough. I think we need more, probably two or three more to be sure," he said before Saturday's match against Portsmouth with the visitors to Loftus Road 20th in the table on 40 points.

"Probably my answer could be different if Oxford, for example, or West Brom, had lost their last games, but it was not the case. So I think we need one more win.

"And after that, when we will have 52 or 53, the next challenge is to have most possible point at the end of the season."

So is 50 points enough to avoid the drop, or does Stephan have a point?

Like the fabled 40-point mark in the 20-team Premier League, 50 points has long been seen as the yard-stick for survival in the Championship, which has 24 teams and therefore eight more matches per side, per season.

Since three points was introduced for a win in 1981-82, only nine teams have been relegated from the second tier with a total of 50 points or more.

Of those, only Birmingham City have fallen through the trap door on two occasions when they've reached a half-century of points.

And in 2012-13 we saw two sides relegated when reaching that total, with Peterborough United (54) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (51) heading down to League One with a combined 105 points.

Here is the full list:

QPR face Portsmouth at Loftus Road on Saturday with the south-coast club in a precarious position, two places and one point above the relegation places.

The Rs remain without top scorer Rumarn Burrell but Stephan has been boosted by the return to fitness of January signing Justin Obikwu.

The 21-year-old hasn't played for the club since completing a permanent move from Coventry City because of injury but could make the squad this weekend.

Obikwu made 20 appearances on loan at Lincoln City earlier this season, starting four times for the Imps in League One, and scored three goals.

He never made a senior appearance at Coventry but also spent a season and a half on loan at Grimsby Town, where he scored 10 goals in 38 games across two loan spells.

"He trained this morning, not yesterday but it was OK. We'll train on Friday and we will decide on Friday. We need to continue to rebuild him physically because he stopped during a long time but it's an option for me to involve him to the 20 players," Stephan said.

"[He's] Not ready of course to start the game but perhaps ready to play a few minutes if we need.

"But we will have to continue after during the international break and the next weeks to rebuild him physically. Of course it will be very, very important but it's an option for the next game."