Queens Park Rangers welcome Derby County to MATRADE Loftus Road on Wednesday night for a Championship contest.
The R’s picked up a commendable point at the base of title favourites West Ham United on Friday night, while the Rams were painfully close to recording a Pride Park success over Wrexham on Saturday afternoon.
After threatening to scrape the bottom of the Championship table over the past few years, Queens Park Rangers are now dreaming of a Premier League return for the first time since 2015 with ambitious Frenchman Julien Stephan at the helm.
The R’s recorded their fourth consecutive second-tier draw on Friday night, when Nicolas Madsen’s first goal of the season was cancelled out by a second-half Jarrod Bowen effort at West Ham’s London Stadium.
The former England international was denied a winning goal late on from the penalty spot by QPR goalkeeper Pierce Charles, who produced an outstanding performance in East London, fresh from collecting four straight clean sheets while on international duty for Northern Ireland.
One of five sides who have lost just once in the division so far, the R’s sit in sixth position in the Championship standings after nine fixtures, four points behind Middlesbrough in second spot.
Stephan’s side will be hopeful of halting a five-match winless run (D4 L1) at Loftus Road this week, however, the hosts have only won one of their four home league fixtures so far, finding the net just four times.
Despite controlling large spells of their battle with Wrexham at Pride Park over the weekend, Derby County were unable to claim their first home victory of the season at the sixth attempt in all competitions.
The winner of the Golden Boot in the Championship during 2023-24, Sammie Szmodics fired the Rams into an early lead last time out, however, midfielder Ollie Rathbone netted an equaliser late on for visiting Wrexham.
Since a 2-0 triumph at Portsmouth on September 1, John Eustace‘s side have endured a five-game winless spell (D2 L3) in the second tier, dropping down to a lowly 23rd place in the standings.
Derby supporters scrambling for positives amid a difficult run of form will surely point towards the contributions of summer arrival Mohammed Fuseini, who has played a part in both of his side’s goals during the past two fixtures.
Another reason for cautious Derby optimism ahead of Wednesday night’s trip, the Rams recorded back-to-back successes over QPR last season and have lost just eight of the past 23 meetings (W10 D5) between the teams.
A key playmaker for QPR in recent years, Ilias Chair is a doubt to feature this week because of a muscle injury.
The R’s options at the top end of the pitch are reduced further by the absence of former wonderkid Karamoko Dembele.
Derby’s fitness woes worsened over the international break, with defender Max Johnston picking up an injury in training.
The Rams were already without centre-back Eiran Cashin (calf) and Matt Clarke (calf), while left-back Charlie Taylor (hamstring) is also unavailable.
The biggest miss in attack for Derby at the moment, American marksman Patrick Agyemang is recovering from an Achilles injury.
Goal! Queens Park Rangers 2, Derby County 0. Nicolas Madsen (Queens Park Rangers) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Penalty Queens Park Rangers. Paul Smyth draws a foul in the penalty area. Penalty conceded by Ryan Hedges (Derby County) after a foul in the penalty area.
Offside, Derby County. Sam Szmodics is caught offside.
Foul by Paul Smyth (Queens Park Rangers). Alex Mowatt (Derby County) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
David Ozoh (Derby County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Paul Smyth (Queens Park Rangers) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Foul by David Ozoh (Derby County).
Attempt saved. Rayan Kolli (Queens Park Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the top centre of the goal by Josh Vickers (Derby County). Assisted by Alfie Lloyd.
Corner, Queens Park Rangers. Conceded by Josh Vickers.
Delay in match because of an injury Boy Kemper (Queens Park Rangers).
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Attempt saved. Alfie Lloyd (Queens Park Rangers) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner by Josh Vickers (Derby County). Assisted by Harvey Vale.
Attempt blocked. Carlton Morris (Derby County) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Mohammed Fuseini.
Kealey Adamson (Queens Park Rangers) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Sam Szmodics (Derby County).
Sam Szmodics (Derby County) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Fourth official has announced 9 minutes of added time.
Goal! Queens Park Rangers 3, Derby County 0. Harvey Vale (Queens Park Rangers) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.
