Best odds: 13/10
Bookmaker:
Queens Park Rangers will welcome Burnley to Loftus Road on Sunday in what will be a game within the 22nd round of the season in the Championship. The two teams are not exactly close to each other in terms of points, but they both stand a chance of achieving their ultimate campaign goal booking a place in the Premier League for 2023/24.
Queens Park Rangers
The Rangers are sixth in the English second tier at the moment with 31 points to their name, two less than Watford in fourth, one less than Norwich City in fifth, and on the same tally as Millwall in seventh, Swansea in eighth and Preston North End in ninth place. They certainly stand a chance of climbing up the ladder, but there s plenty of matches to be played and work to be done before even the prospect of even qualifying for the playoffs starts appearing more clearly on the horizon.
There is also turmoil at the club that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. QPR head towards the Burnley clash without a manager after Michael Beale left to take charge at Glasgow Rangers at the end of November. At the moment, Paul Hall, the Under-23 head coach, is in charge on an interim basis and it remains to be seen if this turns into an opportunity for the 50-year-old to impress or not.
Interestingly enough, the only win in the last six games played by QPR happened against Livingston at home on November 29th, a day after Beale officially left. Before that, QPR lost 2-0 away to Birmingham, drew 0-0 away to Norwich, lost 0-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion, lost 1-2 at home to Huddersfield Town, and lost 2-0 away to Coventry City.
Former Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino was recently asked openly about the vacant position at QPR, but even though he referred to them as a great club, he didn t give a specific answer one way or the other and it stands to reason not to expect a coach of his ambitions to accept a Championship job.
Team News
Hall will be in charge of the team for the first time here and his plan remains anyone s guess, from the formation to the names of his starters on Sunday.
But the interim coach won t be able to call upon midfielder Ilias Chair, who is still in Qatar as his Morocco qualified for the quarterfinals of the World Cup and face Portugal on Saturday. On the other hand, goalkeeper Seny Dieng is back after his exploits with Senegal ended in the round of 16, and having spent the whole tournament on the bench as an understudy to Chelsea s Edouard Mendy, he should be ready to start for his club straight away.
Burnley
As the end of last season and their relegation from the Premier League approached, Burnley parted ways with manager Sean Dyche after almost a decade and entered this campaign, their first back in the Championship since 2015/16, with Vincent Kompany in charge. A similar fate to that of QPR might be on the horizon for the Clarets soon, with the former Manchester City captain reportedly being considered by the Belgian FA as a potential successor to Roberto Martinez after the World Cup failure.
But leaving all speculation aside for now, Kompany has done extremely well at Turf Moor so far. Burnley top the Championship table with 41 points, three more than second-place Sheffield United and five more than Blackburn Rovers in third, and they appear to be well and truly on their way back to the Premier League.
Only Sheffield United managed to beat the Clarets in their last six outings, winning 5-2 at Bramall Lane. As for the other five games, Burnley beat Norwich 1-0 at home, Reading 2-1 at home, Rotherham 3-2 at home, Crawley Town 3-1 at home in the Carabao Cup, and eventually Blackburn Rovers 3-0, also at home.
Team News
Midfielder Ashley Westwood is expected to return to the fold after missing a chunk of the season through injury. Ashley Barnes is likely to get the nod ahead of Jay Rodriguez upfront, even though the latter is the club s top scorer this term with nine goals.
Winger Annas Zaorury is in Qatar, joining forces with QPR s Ilias Chair for Morocco.
Conclusion
To put it simply, Burnley are surely on the right track to return to the Premier League as soon as possible, and their form, quality and stability, compared to that of QPR, make them strong favourites to return victorious from Loftus Road.
Verdict: Away win
Best odds: 13/10
Bookmaker:
