Mark Bowen: 'Defensive injuries have hindered us'

Queens Park Rangers assistant manager Mark Bowen has confessed that the team have found it hard to cope with a number of injuries to the club's defenders.

The likes of Anton Ferdinand, Fabio and Armand Traore have all been out for a number of weeks with a variety of complaints.

As a result, the R's headed into the international break bottom of the Premier League table - something that Bowen believes should be attributed to the rearguard's injury crisis.

"I hate to keep going on about it but it has had an impact on us. At the moment we're spinning plates and trying to get everyone back to the same level of fitness, which has been difficult," he told the club's official website.

"Look at Everton. I would suggest they've got six players who are used to make up their back four. They've got Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka, Johnny Heitinga and Leighton Baines. If Hibbert's out, Seamus Coleman comes in, and they've got Sylvain Distin if one of the centre-backs get injured. And they've been playing together as a group for a couple of years. They know each other's strengths and weaknesses, which is massive.

"We've had a stuttering start to the season but we know we can come through it."

QPR face the Toffees on Saturday afternoon.