A busy week in the Sky Bet Championship continues on Friday evening when two teams in the top four of the table meet to open up another set of fixtures as Reading head to the capital to face Queens Park Rangers.
These two have made very good starts to the campaign and if Reading come away with a win they will end the night on top of the table. Should QPR win they would move level on points with Sheffield United at the top so there is plenty of incentive for both teams here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Main Event and Sky Football channels with the build-up beginning at 7.30pm and the kick off at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium at 8pm.
QPR
There were a few unknowns about QPR at the beginning of this season both because it is the first head coaching job that Michael Beale has embarked on but also because they completely crashed and burned at the end of last term and often there can be a hangover to the next campaign when that happens. To be fair the Londoners came out of the blocks slowly with one win in five while they were adjusting to the changes but they have caught fire since then.
They go into this match having won five of their last seven in the league and that includes being the second team to get the better of the leaders Sheffield United in midweek. The improvement has come in the defensive areas of the pitch where they have now conceded just three goals in their last six matches so if they can continue to have enough in the forward areas to deliver the goods then this could be a good campaign for the Rs.
Reading
When the odds came out for the Sky Bet Championship campaign, Reading were largely expected to be in a relegation scrap but much like crashing and burning can lead to a hangover so too can finishing a campaign with a flourish lead to starting the next one positively. Reading have done the latter. They were in a genuine relegation battle under Paul Ince last season but he kept them up and despite losing some big players in the summer he has them back in the position they were a couple of seasons ago.
Reading go into this match in third place in the table although so quirky is this division that despite winning seven of their 12 matches they currently have a negative goal difference. That is largely because the wheels have come off on their travels a couple of times this term and they will need to ensure this isn’t another one of those nights. Both of the away wins Reading have picked up this term have been 1-0 at Millwall and Wigan but they have been to Sheffield United and Rotherham and been done 4-0 so they need to find some consistency.
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Team News
While the win over Sheffield United in midweek was a big one for QPR it looks to have some at a big cost. Chris Willock has been one of the best players in the division in the last six weeks or so but he went off injured in that game and is expected to miss out here.
Reading held Norwich in midweek with the likes of Ovie Ejaria, Yakou Meite and Lucas Joao all on the bench. Those three will be pushing to start the match while Joe Lumley returns to London to take on his former club.
Betting
This isn’t necessarily the easiest match to bet on because Reading are either absolutely terrible on the road or competitive. The other thing which makes it harder is that the home side are likely to be missing a huge talent in Chris Willock, scorer of six of their 17 goals this season so they might need to change the way that they play. I do still think Reading are vulnerable on their travels though so if QPR can cope without Willock I think they win this match.
QPR had the likes of Stefan Johansen, Jake Clarke-Salter, Lyndon Dykes, Rob Dickie and Albert Adomah on their bench at Sheffield United in midweek and they are all very good players at this level so they should be able to work out a way of coping without Willock. The clean sheet at Bramall Lane was QPR’s third in four matches and the first time Sheffield United had been shut out since the opening day. Reading’s away wins this season have been at Wigan who haven’t won at home yet, and Millwall who are very hit and miss. They haven’t scored in the other three matches on their travels and based on the fact that in four of their last eight matches they have yielded xG totals below 0.40 I’m not convinced they score here so QPR to win to nil looks a bit of value to me.
Tips
Back QPR to win to nil for a 2/10 stake at 3.40 with BetVictor
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