Norwich City must be beating teams like QPR if they're to challenge for the play-offs this season, according to former Canary Jamie Cureton.

The West London club are 22nd in the Championship, three points adrift of Huddersfield Town outside the bottom three, as they look to fight their way out of relegation trouble.

The Hoops have gained seven points from their last three games but Cureton, who also spent 17 months with Rangers between his two spells at Norwich, says these are the games David Wagner's men should be winning.

"The play-offs are still within reach, so the motivation should ultimately be that,” he said. “I suppose the season's been up and down, and they've probably won the games that people haven't expected them to and come up short when they've actually been the favourites.

"If they have ambitions to finish in the top six, they have to beat teams like QPR, who are in the bottom three. I know it's tough, and they've picked up of late, but if you want to challenge to get in the play-offs then you have to be beating teams like QPR who haven't had the best of seasons.

"Whoever you play, your attitude should be exactly the same for me. You're going into the final bit of the season now, and any slip-up can be disastrous.

"They want to stay on the tails of the top six, so they're going to have to accept that pressure if they want to achieve something.”

After a series of games against play-off competitors and nailed-on promotion favourites, the pressure is on Norwich to produce a result against Marti Cifuentes’ charges. With the experience in the City dressing room, however, Cureton says they should be capable of dealing with that.

"They've got a lot of players that have won promotions and been in teams that have been challenging at the top echelons of the league,” he continued. “So they'll know now that it's crunch time, and all the points matter.

"They've got enough experience, the players and the manager, in these situations. If they want to achieve something, then these sort of games they have to win without a doubt. You don't want to come up short against a team that's battling relegation."