Chelsea 'mocked' QPR before derby

Queens Park Rangers are furious with Chelsea for mocking them on their official website.

Manager Neil Warnock and players Adel Taarabt and Joey Barton were all ridiculed on chelseafc.com, where QPR were branded "a club under pressure", despite making an encouraging start on their return to the ­Premier League after a 15-year break.

Warnock is understood to have been angered by the article, which came in a preview for the west London derby, and it also upset other members of the QPR staff, who considered it unprofessional and an insult.

Parts of the article that infuriated QPR included: "The noises from the Rs camp are redolent of the cliches produced by the underdog before a cup final.

"It will be our first League meeting with Queens Park Rangers for 15 years and it is fair to say the hosts are quite worked up about it. Less so Blues supporters. And to the experienced Chelsea players it is obviously a potentially tricky fixture, but still fundamentally third versus 11th.

"Add the spats between team-mates Adel Taarabt and social media lifestyle coach [Joey] Barton, and Warnock's odd attack on a fan who leaked the news that Taarabt had been dropped to the bench ahead of their recent 1-1 draw with Blackburn, and you have a club under some pressure."

The article also referenced the fact that former QPR co-owner Bernie Ecclestone was a Chelsea fan.

Rangers had the last laugh on Sunday, when they put a dent in Chelsea's title aspirations, winning 1-0 at Loftus Road in a match which saw Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba both sent off for the visitors.

Although QPR are unlikely to complain to the Premier League, Warnock will use the controversy as an extra motivation for their trip across west London on April 28, when his side will be looking for their first League victory at Stamford Bridge in 29 years.