Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

Graham Taylor has not been the only person in football to suggest that Neil Warnock has jumped from "the frying pan into the fire" by joining QPR this week.

Warnock's previous club, Crystal Palace, were put into administration this season, leading to a ten-point deduction and they are now just one position off the relegation area. QPR obviously have a greater degree of financial security than Palace, but in terms of the league, it is right to say that there was little difference between the job Warnock would have had to perform there and now has to do at Rangers.

The Hoops are just three points ahead of Palace and as if Warnock's job of familiarising himself with a completely new squad wasn't hard enough, his first game in charge is against second-placed, promotion-chasing WBA, who need all the positive results they can get to hold Nottingham Forest and potentially even Swansea off for the second automatic promotion spot.

QPR Team News

The team news hasn't been kind to the new boss either.

QPR's season has lurched from one crisis to another but a common theme on the pitch has been defensive ineptitude. They haven't kept a clean sheet in 21 games and to make matters worse, central defenders Kaspars Gorkss and Matt Connolly could both miss out today. Connolly is recovering from an ankle injury whilst Gorkss hasn't trained all week after picking up a knock. With Fitz Hall on loan at Newcastle, that leaves Damion Stewart as the only recognised first-team central defender on the books.

Lee Cook, who only returned to the side at the end of January following a long-term injury, could also miss out after struggling with a cold this week.

Up front, Tamas Priskin and Marcus Bent should both be fit after recovering from groin and hamstring injuries respectively so Warnock will also have to decide whether to start with either of them or retain 18-year old Antonio German in the side alongside top scorer Jay Simpson.

West Brom Team News

West Brom striker Roman Bednar is not expected to play after missing their game last weekend with a groin strain. Fellow front man Ishmael Miller could start though after getting over an ankle injury and midfielder Giles Barnes is also in contention after an Achilles problem.

The Baggies have also dared to tread where QPR did earlier this season by bringing Blackburn's Steven Reid in on a one-month loan. Reid only played two games for the Hoops but his addition to the squad alongside defender Tommy Williams seemed to unsettle the side back in November. He played in the club's 2-0 defeat to Doncaster and 2-2 draw with Coventry City which were followed by the embarrasing 5-1 defeat to Middlesbrough and then the bust-up at Watford.

Form

QPR will be praying that their momentary upturn in form against Doncaster two weeks ago wasn't just that - a positive blip in an otherwise horrendous run of results. That was still the club's only win since Boxing Day last year and they shave the poorest form in the whole league, with those three points all they have to show for their last seven games. Going up against West Brom, they rarely prosper either, with no home wins against the Baggies in nine years.

West Brom remain firmly in contention for the second automatic promotion spot with just one league defeat in their last six games and won't have completely given up on winning the division, despite trailing leaders Newcastle by six points. They have the second-best away form in the league over the last six games, behind Swansea but their last two trips have ended unsuccessfully, with a 3-2 FA Cup defeat at Reading and a 2-1 league defeat against Bristol City.

Prediction

The 'new-manager' syndrome is a very seductive idea in football and does tend to work against QPR, but rarely for them. This season, four different managers have made Rangers debuts (including the pairing of Steve Gallen and Marc Bircham, who took charge for one game only against today's opponents) and by a strange twist, all have managed draws (Jim Magilton and Mick Harford in the home and away games against Blackpool and Paul Hart against Sheffield United).

Could Neil Warnock buck the trend either way? Reading some of his comments in his column in The Independent, it appears he likes to make a strong impression on his new players straight away, saying that he put his new charges through a "robust" first training session. With his infectious enthusiasm for the game and strong will to win, he was clearly an excellent candidate to get QPR out of their current predicament.

I still believe they will do that, but I don't think the fight-back will start today. As mentioned above, the defence has been the weakest point of a highly ineffectual season and it is down to the bare bones today unless Gorkss and Connolly can both come through late fitness tests. As a result, the new manager will have to piece together a make-shift defence which could struggle against the league's top scorers. I expect a gutsy committed performance from the Hoops and there's not been too many times you could say that this season, but at the end of the day, I expect West Brom's class to win out.

AWAY WIN