Cardiff City’s Lex Immers has been warned he will come off second best in this weekend’s battle of the flying Dutchmen.
Immers – who has scored five goals in 11 games for the Bluebirds – will go head-to-head with Queens Parks Rangers’ in-form front man Tjaronn Chery at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday.
Chery and Immers were teammates at Den Haag but Chery is on an even hotter streak at present with six goals in his last 10 matches for Rangers, even though the club are well out of contention for the Championship play-offs.
Cardiff are currently in seventh place, but are desperate for points to make up a five-point gap on Sheffield Wednesday with just five matches remaining.
Chery – who played alongside Immers in the Dutch capital four years ago – admitted: “This will be a really hard game for us. Cardiff are fighting for the play-offs and probably need to win this game to keep up their top-six chances.
“However, we want to win every game we play and we believe we are playing well at the moment.
“We feel we are on a good run and we want to finish the season as strongly as possible. We want to create a winning mentality and a good feeling for next season.”
Rangers are managed by another Dutchman, former Bluebirds striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who took charge midway through the season and Chery warned: “Our fitness levels are improving all of the time, and we are coming on strong in games now. I feel we are improving as a team all of the time.
“We’ve scored late goals in recent weeks, and that is down to our ability to keep going right to the end.
“My first ten goals have really pleased me, especially because I haven’t played every week throughout the season. I am confident that I will score and create goals if I’m given the opportunity, so I’m really enjoying my time in the team at the moment.
Rangers head into the clash against the Bluebirds buoyed by a last-minute 2-1 victory over Charlton Athletic last weekend.