Queens Park Rangers forward Jamie Mackie has warned his teammates that they will have to work hard to retain their Premier League status.
Mark Hughes's side are without a win in 10 league games, sitting in 19th place with just four points so far this season.
Mackie believes that the Hoops must be prepared to dig deep before looking further up the table.
He said: "Obviously this club is thinking big but first and foremost we're in a scrap and everyone needs to realise that.
"We need to roll our sleeves up and really scrap to get ourselves out of it rather than have visions of playing a lot higher. Of course we don't want to be in a scrap. We need to try to win games now so come the Christmas period we're in a position where we can try to kick on.
"We beat top sides at home last season, deservedly, we played very well at times, but it's not a given that we can do that again."
The Londoners continue to search for their first victory of the campaign when they travel to Stoke City this weekend.
Liam Power
