The penultimate weekend in the Sky Bet Championship season gets underway on Friday night when the events at both ends of the table will once again be in the spotlight as QPR look to secure another season of second tier football when they host promotion chasing Leeds United.
QPR technically need another three points to be guaranteed safety but there are enough teams between them and the bottom three to think they will be fine. Leeds aren’t in control of their automatic promotion destiny but they have the chance to put pressure on Ipswich here.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football channels with the build-up to the contest beginning at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off at Loftus Road.
QPR
QPR went a long way to securing another season of Championship football with a win over Preston North End last weekend. I wouldn’t say they were completely convincing in that match, although they really should have been further ahead than they were and then as you would expect, late on they kind of retreated and looked to hold onto what they had and ended up hanging on a little. That is all natural so we shouldn’t really hold that against them.
One issue for QPR has been their home form this season. They have won just six of their 22 home games and only rock bottom Rotherham United have picked up fewer points in front of their own fans than the London outfit. The positive for Rangers is that two of those six wins have come in their last three matches at Loftus Road but they will need their best showing in front of their faithful if they are going to officially secure their safety here.
Leeds United
Leeds United gave their automatic promotion hopes a shot in the arm with an entertaining win at Middlesbrough on Monday night but things are still out of their own hands and it has to be said that they have very much had the short end of the straw given that this match comes along just four nights later. Leeds head to the capital knowing anything but a win will probably end their chances of going back to the Premier League automatically so the Yorkshire outfit are under plenty of pressure.
Leeds have now won half of their 22 away matches in the Championship this term and they would give plenty for another one here. They are the third highest scorers on their travels this season so that will give them plenty of confidence. The Whites are currently on a run of just one defeat in nine on their travels this season so they are definitely in the sort of form which could see them run out winners in this contest.
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Team News
QPR are still likely to be without Taylor Richards, Rayan Kolli and Michael Frey for the visit of Leeds United. The latter means that Jimmy Dunne is expected to continue to deputise at right-back. Paul Smyth and Isaac Hayden came off the bench last week and could start here.
Leeds United are expected to be without Patrick Bamford for this match as he suffered a knock in the win over Middlesbrough on Monday night. Joel Piroe would be the obvious replacement although Daniel Farke could do with Mateo Joseph.
Betting
This match has a really smelly look about it. QPR technically need to win but a draw wouldn’t be a bad result. Leeds do have to win and that makes me think that we are going to see some goals in this one but I’m not convinced QPR are good enough to get into a battle with Leeds. At the same time, I’m not in a huge rush to be backing Leeds at odds on so in order for a bet on this one I’ll have a look at the side markets where the cards are on my radar.
I think it is fair to assume that Leeds will have a lot of the ball in this match so Jack Colback is going to get through plenty of work in the six position for the home side. Colback is an absolute card magnet with 12 of them in the campaign including one against Preston last weekend. When you consider the three behind the striker for Leeds are likely to be Gnonto, Rutter and Summerville, Colback won’t need to get too much wrong to feel the wrath of the referee. Darren Bond averages more than four cards per game this season and I would not be surprised to see one flashed in the direction of Colback here.
Tips
Back J.Colback to be shown a card for a 2/10 stake at 3.00 with Sky Bet
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