Alan Pardew: "We haven't got a lot of time left, and Wigan's result (they beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 on Saturday) has put pressure on us all.
"Not just us - all the teams above us. It looks like at QPR we're going to have to try to win the game and see where that leaves us. We wanted to try to get two wins.
"Ben Arfa has been struggling.
"This hamstring has a slight weakness in there and it won't even be strong I don't think for six, seven weeks.
"We got a great level of fitness out of him in terms of that particular problem. He was terrific at West Ham, and he's a match winner.
"We've been bringing him on in the second half but started him at the weekend and we missed him when we took him off. We missed that little thrust.
"I think for Hatem another week's work will get him closer. Goalscoring is what wins games, we've got to improve that area for next week, including with Hatem."
Newcastle have scored just two goals in their last six Premier League matches.