Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

In my preview for the match against Crystal Palace that never was, I made the bold and hard-to-defend statement that QPR will play better and pick up more points once they start to play some of this division's top teams (i.e the current top six - West Brom, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Cardiff, Preston and Sheffield Utd, who will all hope to be at least in the top six and hopefully higher come May). The theory being that on too many occasions this season, the impetus was on QPR to take the game to their opponents, particularly at home, with quite a lot of pressure emanating from the terraces when they fail to beat 'easy' opposition. With the expectations greatly reduced when they face those top teams, my thinly-held belief is they might relax whilst at the same time raising their game.

Foolishly, I don't think I realised how soon this theory would be tested. They travel to the new stadium of Cardiff City tomorrow and if they still hold realistic promotion hopes, they will now get the chance to test them against a team with much better current credentials to move up the ladder. Until a late collapse in the league last season, Cardiff looked nailed-on to finish in the play-off spots and they started off even better this season, with only one goal currently conceded at home. But like a man facing Death Row, certain he is about to receive a last-minute reprieve, I am still going to go against all the evidence to the contrary and predict a QPR win.

In the team news, it is a case of as-you-were, with Fitz Hall, Angelo Balanta and Lee Cook all sidelined and of course, no Heidar Helguson since he returned on loan to Watford this week. His departure already put the pressure on Jay Simpson to begin to show the undoubted promise he has and his potential will be sorely tested when he most likely starts tomorrow's game.

Beyond that, it is never a great idea to try and predict the QPR line-up as Jim Magilton continues to search for his best XI. I'd expect Peter Ramage to return at right-back as the experiment of placing Mikele Leigertwood there last weekend didn't work to my mind. Damion Stewart and Matthew Connolly looks to be the tentative preferred centre-back pairing but again, Magilton has tried nearly every combination of players here. The club now has too many midfielders to even attempt a prediction but what is vital is striking the balance between safety against an undeniably dangerous team and still retaining enough attacking threat to try and get a result. Martin Rowlands will be pushing for his first inclusion in the starting line-up since the opening day.

As mentioned, Cardiff made a blistering start to the season, with two comfortable home wins (4-0 against Scunthorpe and 3-0 against Bristol City) either side of a draw at Blackpool and a win in Plymouth. Since then, the pace has slightly diminished following two successive defeats against Doncaster and Newcastle, but they returned to winning ways in midweek at Reading.

The star man for them so far has been Michael Chopra with seven goals already; another indication to QPR that sometimes you have to go for proven talent, particularly players who have previously shown excellent form in the Championship. As a self-confessed 'prawn-sandwicher', my previous memories of Chopra were mainly in his Premiership days and it would be safe to say, he was a far less deadly striker in the top flight. At this level though, few strikers have his confidence and unerring knack to find the net. In a Little and Large frontline, Cardiff can also call on the formidable presence of Jay Bothroyd - getting the measure of these two players will have a big impact on the Hoop's fortunes tomorrow. In terms of injuries, Cardiff will be without loanee Kelvin Etuhu who has a fairly serious ankle problem and forward Ross McCormack.

They already look a very formidable side at home with a miserly defensive record there and on top of that, QPR have been dire on their travels all year. I still think there is a glimmer of truth in my theory though - that they could play better when the pressure is off though. Even a draw tomorrow would be a good result and would keep the Hoops within touching distance of the top half of the table. A win though could change the whole complexion of their season and I still think they're capable of doing it. On paper, they have players who equal or even surpass the talent in the Cardiff squad. The problem has been a complete inability for this talent to gel together and that's only partly the fault of the manager. He's been let down frequently up until now.

In all likelihood, Cardiff will win and a draw is the best Rangers fans should hope for. But football would be really dull if the favourites won all the time. I'm going to stick with a very tight QPR win (a solitary goal off Damion Stewart's arse the most likely difference between the two teams).

PREDICTION

QPR AWAY WIN