QPR boss Harry Redknapp believes this season's relegation battlers do not have the class to compete with the top sides in the Barclays Premier League. The three promoted sides all find themselves in the relegation zone ahead of this weekend's fixtures, with QPR sandwiched between Leicester, who are bottom, and Burnley.
"Leicester beat Man United in September and you thought they would finish in the top half, that's how it goes in this division, it is so hard to win games, there's a gulf in class," Redknapp said.
"Man City have beaten Sunderland 4-1 and Southampton 3-0 (in the last week) - they're on another level, they can go away with 10 men and win 3-0.
"That tells you the difference in quality between Man City, Chelsea, even Arsenal - they've got massive budgets and top players.
"It is hard for clubs like Leicester, Burnley and QPR.
"Eight players that played for us against Swansea on Tuesday played in the Championship last year and came up through the play-offs."
Redknapp believes the bottom half will remain tight throughout the campaign but expects the usual suspects to fill the top spots come May.
"At the start of the year you can predict those challenging for the Champions League and I think it will still be four from the seven we expected to be there," Redknapp said.
"There's not much in it at the bottom, if you look at the teams - Burnley are very much the same team that came up last year and we're the same.
"Leicester were definitely the best team in the Championship last year and they're down with us as well.
"We're going okay, we need to pick up some points away but our home form has been excellent.
"It's going to be tight, it'll be a tight bottom third of the league this year."
