Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

QPR Team News

It is very much as you were for Rangers as they play their second game in five days with a whole string of mid to long-term absentees. Hogan Ephraim will be out until at least mid-November and Angelo Balanta should be approaching availability but there is little or no news on the return of Lee Cook and Matt Connolly. Martin Rowlands is of course out for the rest of the season though he has rubbished reports that this latest injury is going to force him to retire.

QPR also picked up two further injuries before or during the Leicester game - Gavin Mahon and Damion Stewart. Luckily two ready-made alternatives are now available. Ben Watson will come into the centre of midfield against his former club following his suspension and Fitz Hall, who looked in fine shape against Leicester and coped pretty admirably when brought on can fill in for Stewart's absence.

Form

QPR's form was of course excellent until what they will hope was only a temporary blip against Leicester. It's still only three defeats this season though which compares well with any other team in the division and a win would lift the club to fifth so Jim Magilton is still performing above expectations so far. QPR were the best performing side in the London derbies last season with 6 points from 12 but they have a less than impressive record against Palace, having lost six and won only one of their last 11 meetings. The less said about both fixtures last season the better - they were very uninspiring nil-nil draws.

Palace's form has been the almost mirror opposite of Rangers which is why the home team must be favourites for this game. They are looking for their first win in five games and they currently average only a goal a game so don't go to this one expecting pretty football. Despite the need for a win as soon as possible, Neil Warnock would surely be happy with a point at Loftus Road and he may just set up his team to go for this.

Prediction

It's the Championship. You can't honestly expect accurate predictions for any games in this league. Anyone who successfully bets on Championship games is much smarter than me. I had Rangers to draw with Leicester and they promptly lost but I did have a feeling that the free-flowing football of the previous three games couldn't last forever. With the greatest respect to Palace, this current QPR side is better than theirs with a limited number of decent options in reserve as well so they should bounce back in this game. Like they should have beaten Leicester. So I'll go for a draw. There is no logic to this.

SCORE DRAW