The third set of matches in a busy week of Sky Bet Championship action gets underway on Friday night when two sides in the bottom half of the table face off at Loftus Road where QPR entertain Derby County.
A win would move QPR back to within three points of the play-off spots ahead of the remainder of the weekend matches while the Rams will be looking to pull away from the relegation zone having escaped it once again in midweek.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the Sky Sports Football channel with the build-up to the contest getting started at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick off.
QPR
It has been a bit of an up and down season for QPR so far. The first half of the games we have seen them play was a real struggle but then the second half of them they found their form and climbed the table quite quickly, however they look like they might have hit the skids again in recent times having lost three of their last four matches, which has just seen them move back into the bottom half of the table and drift away from the play-off places once again.
Goals are a bit of an issue for QPR. They have only scored three in their last four matches and they haven’t faced any of the big guns in the division in that time and haven’t had a massive amount of time to prepare for this one so you wouldn’t think they have been able to come up with much that has been different. The position for Rangers is that they have won six of their last seven at Loftus Road having not won any of their opening nine on this ground.
Derby County
It is the start of a new era for Derby County in this match as John Eustace will take charge of the club for the first time. He hasn’t had a huge amount of time to work with his new players but they had started to turn the corner with a couple of draws after a run of eight successive defeats so you would imagine his only impact in this one will just be to give the players a little extra confidence and belief that they can get themselves out of the situation that they are in.
Eustace is no stranger to coming into sides in trouble. He did the same with Birmingham and Blackburn in this division and led them to safety so he has the history of working his magic, which I’m sure will provide a lift to everyone at Pride Park. He will know if he is going to keep Derby in the Championship then he has to find a way to put more goals on the board but if he does that, the Rams have generally been in the majority of their matches this term.
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Team News
QPR boss Marti Cifuentes has confirmed that he picked up no more injuries in the defeat to Coventry in midweek but while Kader Dembele and Lucas Andersen are nearing a return, this match will come too soon for both of them.
Derby boss John Eustace will be without Kane Wilson and Corey Blackett-Taylor for his first game in charge of the Rams. Curtis Nelson is out for the season too so he may select the same XI that got a point against Oxford in midweek.
Betting
I’m expecting something of a close match here. These Friday games at the end of a busy week rarely catch fire and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one doesn’t either. Both of these sides struggle to score goals and so I’m certainly not expecting a classic, especially with Derby County having a new manager who generally looks to keep things tight and see if his side can pinch something on a counter attack. With QPR not exactly vibrant in attack this does have a low scoring game written all over it.
The bookmakers are all over that though so we need to find another way in. One way would be to back the draw, which is certainly a runner, but I’m not much of a draw backer myself so I will side with the away win on the Asian line where there is plenty of draw cover and if the game does end all square then we would win half of the bet but it certainly wouldn’t be beyond the realms that a new manager bounce elevates Derby to a win. In a tough game to call, I think there is slightly more upside with Derby who have at least shown signs of life this week.
Tips
Back Derby County (+0.25AH) to beat QPR for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Bet365
