QPR are back in front of the Sky cameras this weekend as they welcome Wolves, the division's best team, to Loftus Road. It's a really tough task for Paulo Sousa on paper but QPR have previous in this kind of fixture this season - just ask Birmingham.

Queens Park Rangers (10th) v Wolverhampton Wanderers (1st)
Coca Cola Championship
Saturday December 6, Kick Off 5.20pm
Loftus Road, London, W12

A young team, built up over three seasons, playing good football, top of the Championship – it’s everything Flavio Briatore says he wants his QPR team to be and this weekend he gets to see it live at Loftus Road. Sadly for us and for him it will be wearing Wolves’ shirts and playing against a QPR side that has none of those attributes and will be made to look vastly inferior if it is not right on its game.

The average age of the Wolves side that drew with Birmingham last time out was just over 23, and even that was boosted by the presence of Chris Iwelumo (30) and Michael Gray (34). The entire back four and goalkeeper were aged 24 or younger, eight members of the starting eleven and three used subs were aged 22 or younger. In total 13 of the 14 players they used have been signed by Mick McCarthy during the last three years, the other, goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey, is a product of the Molineux youth set up. Although Michael Mancienne could technically play internationally for the Seychelles, no word of a lie, the team was entirely made up of English and Irish players. And it looks bloody good.

These are all things that Flavio Briatore has at one time or another stated as his aims for QPR during the four year plan he has to achieve promotion to the Premiership. It may interest him, it certainly does me, to see that Wolves have done it with one manager over three years and a relatively unfashionable one at that. Mick McCarthy inherited very little from Glenn Hoddle in 2006, a team recently relegated from the Premiership and just finishing up the footballing equivalent of a garage sale to cut the wage bill. He has been backed with moderate finances, spending £5m over three years and bringing in roughly the same through sales, and has used an impressive knowledge of the Football League and below to pick up players like Sylvain Ebanks Blake, Andy Keogh and Michael Kightly for relative peanuts.

You would hope that in 18 months time QPR will be at the same stage, progress league position wise has been steadily rising since the takeover although the soap opera that our club often descends into is a far cry away from the relative stability at Molineux these days. If we are, it certainly does not look like we will be doing it Wolves’ way – the average age of our players at Crystal Palace was three years older than Wolves, contained only three under 21s, six foreigners not including Patrick Agyemang and three loan signings with a fourth on the bench.

Nevertheless there are positive signs on the pitch again. Paulo Sousa has quickly changed the system and the style of play and although he insists it will take the players time to adapt to you can already see the difference – the challenge will be to maintain success in a formation where three of the four midfielders are currently playing out of their natural positions once the enthusiasm of working with a new manager wears off. There are plenty of indications that Rangers can not only match the best team in the division on Saturday but beat them - they will have to be on top of their game to do it though and this is Sousa’s biggest test so far.

Five minutes on Wolves
The club in decline that Mick McCarthy inherited just before the start of the 2006/07 season is probably the main reason why Glenn Hoddle now spends his time flicking his fringe at us on the television rather than from a dug out somewhere. Despite the whole disabled people sinned in a previous life scandal Hoddle had made a successful return to club management with Southampton and did not do too badly at Spurs either before replacing Dave Jones in the hot seat at Molineux.

‘Hot’ was often the operative word at Wolves during the 1990s as they rattled through a series of managers in the quest to turn their annual pre-season favouritism into an actual promotion. Dave Jones succeeded where Mark McGhee, Graham Taylor, Colin Lee and others had failed but only managed one season in the big league and then started the following one poorly so out he went and in came Glennda. The team he had at Molineux was not a bad one by any stretch of the imagination with Joleon Lescott, Lee Naylor, Kenny Miller and Seyi Olofinjana all going on to play at a higher level and Darren Anderton, Rohan Ricketts and Mark Kennedy coming down from one.

Wolves started the 2005/06 season very well, sweeping past QPR 3-1 on the television on their way to the top of the table. However as the campaign wore on points were dropped, 19 games were drawn and ultimately they did not even make the play offs. At that point the Premiership money was starting to run dry, the spine of the team was quickly sold off and Hoddle left.

You could almost hear the groans from the Black Country in London W12 when he was replaced by Mick McCarthy. Despite promotion with Sunderland and success with Millwall and Ireland he has never been a manager that has inspired supporters to go out and buy season tickets and with the Wolves cupboard looking bare upon his arrival anyway expectations were, for once, pretty low ahead of the 2006/07 season.

I have always thought that one of the main problems Wolves have is the inflated sense of self importance of some of their supporters. Last year at Molineux was a prime example – QPR took the lead three times but were pegged back on each occasion until Wolves forced a draw. After every QPR goal the home crowd started booing and jeering their own team, after every equaliser they worshipped them. It was a toxic atmosphere in which to try and play football and it has never been any different. Wolves fans infamously prepared a bed sheet banner with the words ‘you’ve let us down again’ painted on it before a match – just in case they did.

However McCarthy’s first season started from such a low ebb that even the notoriously hard to please Wolves fans were not expecting much. The lack of pressure seemed to galvanise the team and they were unlucky to lose a play off semi final against West Brom over two legs – Michael McIndoe missed a penalty in the home leg for McCarthy’s men. From potential relegation candidates to unlucky play off losers in 12 months was some turn around.

I started to sit up and take note of Wolves during the January transfer window when they signed Andy Keogh from Scunthorpe United. I have always been a semi regular attender at Glanford Park for geographical reasons and while all the headlines, attention and speculation was centred on Keogh’s striking partner Billy Sharp at the time I always rated Keogh as the better player. Sharp would, and still will, snuff you a goal out if the ball drops in the box but that does not happen as often in the Championship as it does in League One so you need a bit of something extra on top of that and Keogh had plenty up his sleeve to cause defenders problems. McCarthy spent £600k on Keogh and left Sharp where he was, to be picked up six months later for almost five times as much by that well known expert judge of a footballer Bryan Robson. If that doesn’t speak for itself, the players’ respective records since those moves certainly does.

The near miss in 2006/07 unfortunately raised expectations around Molineux again last season and there were rumblings of discontent in the second half of the season when it became clear that McCarthy’s side would miss the top six altogether. Fans would chant Freddy Eastwood’s name whenever he wasn’t picked and the team didn’t immediately do well in a game and, as I say, the atmosphere for our game there towards the end of the season was ridiculous. In the Jack Haywood days McCarthy may have been heading abroad in the summer with a P45 tucked in his breast pocket with the team seemingly going backwards but the club kept the faith and are now being richly rewarded.

Despite Wolves’ terrific form and league position they do seem to play in fits and starts whenever I see them – brilliant for 15 minutes in each half and not the rest of the time. Luckily for them in the Championship with the players they have that is good enough to be on course for a 100-plus points haul but there seems to be a feeling among some supporters that they always mess it up, and this wonderful first half of the season will only serve to make the inevitable collapse harder to take. Cardiff City let’s not forget were running away with this league at this stage two seasons ago and didn’t even make the top six come May so spectacular collapses can happen and Wolves specialise in them more than most.

In truth though, barring an injury crisis of plague like proportions, they have the best team in the division and should now have enough to see the job through – I certainly think they are better equipped for that than they have been before, and certainly more than Cardiff City ever were. The difficulty then will be avoiding a repeat of McCarthy’s last trip from this league to the one above with Sunderland. The Mackems sacked him as all sorts of the wrong type of records went tumbling and at the end of the day when somebody thinks Howard Wilkinson is a better bet than you then you’re in trouble. McCarthy would enjoy showing the doubters what he can do in the Premiership I am sure, but they have to get there first.

Men to watch
Wolves’ success this season has been built on good, simple footballing principals. They have a collection of excellent strikers, and some wonderful midfield players at this level to supply them. Once again I am forced to look down the squad list of an opponent and laugh at their attacking options compared to our own - Chris Iwelumo, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Andy Keogh, Michael Kightly, Sam Vokes, Matt Jarvis and so on and so on.

Kightly and Ebanks-Blake are the ones catching the eye and making the headlines at the moment and both featured in England Under 21’s win against the Czech Republic at Bramall Lane last week. Kightly, you may recall, scored his first goal for Wolves in a 1-0 win at Loftus Road the season before last. At that time he was on loan from Conference side Grays with a view to a permanent transfer which, despite late interest from Man Utd, he completed in the January transfer window. That has proved to be an inspired piece of business by McCarthy and made Southend United look pretty stupid into the bargain – they released Kightly to Grays in the first place with the player saying manager Steve Tillson loved him one minute then didn’t speak to him the next. Kightly plays wide in midfield and is a complete attacking midfielder at this level offering a good engine, goals and assists in equal measure and a super work ethic. He’s certainly the key man this weekend.

Ebanks-Blake and Chris Iwelumo are the chief beneficiaries of Kightly’s skills in midfield. Rangers fans need little introduction to the former, he already has four career goals against QPR including three for Plymouth Argyle in what is still a relatively young career – a new Clinton Morrison in the making as far as QPR are concerned perhaps. Ebanks-Blake looks to be built like a heavy weight boxer, although he’s candidate for Weightwatchers’ slimmer of the month compared to team mate George Elokobi, but that weight transfers into pace and power around the penalty box and he already has 12 goals this season including two in his last two games.

Iwelumo alongside him is a robust target man with plenty of experience. He has shown in his career that given the right service he can be a real threat, and two season ago with Colchester he bagged 18 goals which is astonishing really for somebody whose job is to primarily knock the ball down and create chances for people like, at that time, Jamie Cureton. That form got him a move to Charlton last summer but as the Addicks failed to impress so did he and he only scored ten times in the league. That made him look a strange signing for Wolves in the summer but with 15 goals in 15 starts and two sub appearances for McCarthy’s men this season he looks an inspired signing. Don’t let the Scotland miss put you off a player who will always pose a threat at this level when provided with the right service.

The form of Blake and Iwelumo has largely kept Andy Keogh out of the side but he’s a terrific little player as I mentioned earlier and one I’d love to see down at Loftus Road in a QPR shirt one day – watch out for him from the bench at the weekend. Wolves also signed young Welsh forward Sam Vokes from Bournemouth in the summer and while he’s nothing more than a useful sub at the moment he looks like he could be some player in the years to come.

As well as Kightly in midfild Wolves have Karl Henry, who QPR tried to buy on several occasions from Stoke before he moved to Molineux, doing an effective holding role and former Sunderland and England man Michael Gray providing experience and further width in the absence of Matt Jarvis who they signed from Gillingham last summer. The key man in the centre of the park though could well be David Jones who graduated from the Man Utd academy as a junior but made the wrong choice when the time came to leave Old Trafford by signing for Derby. Billy Davies, the manager that paid £1m for him, didn’t really know where to put him and got the sack within nine months of signing Jones anyway. The emergence of Miles Addison at Pride Park meant he was surplus to requirements but he is a fine player in the Championship and will help to move Wolves around the park.

At the back all QPR eyes will be on Michael Mancienne who returns to Loftus Road for the first time since his 18 months of loan deals with QPR came to an end in the summer. Mancienne played predominantly at right back for QPR during his time here and while he is better in that position than the options we currently have there he never looked like anything to really write home about. Whenever he played at centre half he impressed but that is a position QPR are quite well off in at the moment so we are not currently lamenting a missed opportunity as much as we would be doing if goals were going in against us left right and centre. As a centre back Mancienne has settled in well with Wolves, played reasonably for the Under 21s and recently celebrated a shock full squad call up ahead of the Germany friendly – his stock is on the rise and he has a chance to show QPR what they are missing out on this Saturday. His partner at centre half, former Leicester man Richard Stearman, isn’t nearly as impressive.

Wolves are well blessed in the goalkeeping department as well. When Matt Murray picked up a season ending knee injury more than a year ago there was much wailing and hand ringing at Molineux. He was widely recognised, along with Hull’s Bo Myhill, to be the best keeper in the division but while Murray was excelling for Wolves his young understudy Wayne Hennessey was breaking all manner of records on loan at Stockport where he kept nine consecutive clean sheets in his first nine senior appearances. The injury to Murray gave him his big chance at Wolves and he hasn’t relinquished the jersey since. Incredibly Murray now finds himself on loan at League One strugglers Hereford and assuming he has recovered fully from his knee injury he is not only a terrific signing for the Bulls but will also be a good transfer target for clubs in this league come the next few transfer windows.
 
Previous Meetings
At Molineux last season Wolves kept their faint play off hopes alive with a scrambled last minute equaliser from Andy Keogh in an incredible 3-3 draw. QPR took the lead three times in the match, starting with a low drilled shot from Akos Buzsaky midway through the first half. However Wolves drew level on all three occasions and came back into this one with a headed goal from Keogh on the stroke of half time. Most of the QPR fans in attendance assumed that Rangers would quietly slip to a defeat after that but immediately after half time they were given a dodgy penalty for handball in the area and Blackstock converted. Back came the hosts with a very harsh penalty of their own – Ebanks Blake converted after Jarvis had barely been touched by Mancienne outside the penalty box. Boasting a legitimate goal and a dodgy one each both teams went to win the game in the last half an hour and QPR thought it was theirs when Mikele Leigertwood drilled in a third goal ten minutes from time. Five minutes of added time were advertised and in the sixth of those shambolic defending from Camp, Leigertwood, Rehman and others meant that an almighty goal mouth scramble ended up in the back of the net and Keogh’s second of the game. This was the 12th, 13th and 14th times in the season that QPR had let a lead slip and the seventh occasion they were robbed of points by a last minute goal.

Wolves: Hennessey 5, Foley 6 (Kyle 87, -), Collins 6, Rob Edwards - (Craddock 6, 7), Elokobi 7, Jarvis 7, Olofinjana 8, Henry 7, Gray 7 (Eastwood 59, 7), Keogh 8, Ebanks-Blake 8
Subs Not Used: Stack, Gibson
Booked: Collins, Jarvis
Goals: Keogh 45 (assisted Gray), Ebanks-Blake 67 pen (assisted Jarvis), Keogh 90 +6 (assisted Eastwood)

QPR: Camp 6, Mancienne 6, Connolly 7 (Rehman 59, 5), Hall 7, Delaney 6, Buzsaky 7 (Ainsworth 75, 7), Leigertwood 7, Rowlands 7 (Mahon 31, 7), Vine 6, Blackstock 7, Agyemang 6
Subs Not Used: Pickens, Balanta
Booked: Mancienne, Delaney, Blackstock
Goals: Buzsaky 28 (assisted Vine), Blackstock 49 pen (unassisted), Leigertwood 79 (unassisted)

Match Report

The last meeting between these two at Loftus Road could hardly have been different as the teams shared a goalless draw 12 months ago. This was a match of few chances but QPR were denied a blatant penalty in the second half when Marc NYgaard was clearly wrestled to the ground after turning in the Loft End penalty box, the ridiculously lenient referee Fred Graham waved the appeals away, as he did everything else on the day.

QPR Camp 7, Malcolm 7, Rehman 8, Stewart 7, Barker 7, Ainsworth 8, Leigertwood 7, Buzsaky 7, Rowlands 7, Blackstock 6 (Sinclair 83, -), Nygaard 6
Subs Not Used: Cole, Moore, Walton, Balanta

Wolves: Hennessey 8, Foley 6, Darren Ward 7, Collins 5, Gray 5, Gibson 6, Olofinjana 7, Henry 7, Stephen Ward 7, Elliott 6, Bothroyd 6 (Keogh 88, -)
Subs Not Used: Ikeme, Edwards, Jarvis, Eastwood

Match Report

Head to Head
QPR wins – 11
Draws – 15
Wolves wins – 15

Past QPR v Wolves results:
2007/08 Wolves 3 QPR 3 (Buzsaky, Blackstock, Leigertwood)
2007/08 QPR 0 Wolves 0
2006/07 Wolves 2 QPR 0
2006/07 QPR 0 Wolves 1
2005/06 QPR 0 Wolves 0
2005/06 Wolves 3 QPR 1 (Gallen)
2004/05 QPR 1 Wolves 1 (Gallen)
2004/05 Wolves 2 QPR 1 (Gallen)
2000/01 Wolves 1 QPR 1 (Bruce)
2000/01 QPR 2 Wolves 2 (Peacock 2)
1999/00 Wolves 3 QPR 2 (Peacock, Slade)
1999/00 QPR 1 Wolves 1 (Peacock)
1998/99 QPR 0 Wolves 1
1998/99 Wolves 1 QPR 2 (Sheron 2)
1997/98 QPR 0 Wolves 0
1997/98 Wolves 3 QPR 2 (Sheron, Peacock)
1997/98 Wolves 1 QPR 2 (Peacock, Murray)
1997/98 QPR 0 Wolves 2

1996/97 QPR 2 Wolves 2 (Peacock, Spencer)
1996/97 Wolves 1 QPR 1 (Dichio)

Team News
Lee Cook returns to the QPR squad after a couple of weeks out with another knee injury, Paulo Sousa has intimated in interviews this week that he may ditch or adapt his favoured diamond midfield formation to accommodate the left winger into his team. Sousa has one player returning from a ban this week, Emmanuel Ledesma had a five card one match ban at Palace, but he loses another for the same reason – Mikele Leigertwood collected his fifth booking of the season against Charlton. Fitz Hall has one more game of his ban left but may struggle to regain his place at Sheff Wed on Tuesday if Kaspars Gorkss keeps up his form alongside Damion Stewart. Akos Buzsaky and Rowan Vine are long term absentees, Heidar Helguson and Gary Borrowdale are available for home debuts, Matt Connolly continues to struggle with a back injury.

Wolves team news to follow.
Details

Referee
Iain Williamson is back at Loftus Road this weekend for the first time in two and a half seasons. Dexter Blackstock certainly won’t have forgotten the Berkshire official in that time – Blackstock was booked within nine seconds of starting his QPR debut in a match against Southend for, according to this referee, diving on the edge of the penalty area. Williamson’s card stats for this season so far are frightening.
Details

Elsewhere
The game of the weekend looks set to be the farm derby live on Sky on Sunday lunchtime – Ipswich travel up to Norwich and while the Tractor Boys have their eyes on the play offs the Canaries have concerns at the other end of the table. On Saturday the pick of the matches is Sheffield United in fifth against Burnley in fourth, having seen both teams several times this season I would back Burnley to win this and most other games they play this season but they were in action on Wednesday night against Arsenal and it remains to be seen what sort of a hangover they will be left with.
Tony’s Championship Preview

Form
Away from home QPR are struggling for goals and results but at Loftus Road they are showing promotion form. The win against Charlton last time out was their eighth in eleven games at home in all competitions and only Derby and an impressive Burnley side have beaten the Super Hoops on their own patch this season. The total of 20 goals in those matches, including two wins where four were scored, makes a mockery of the record on the road where Rangers have failed to score in seven consecutive matches. It’s only that toothlessness away from Loftus Road that is preventing Rangers occupying a play off spot despite everything that has gone on at the club already this season.

Wolves are top of the table and in flying form. Away from home they have won seven and drawn one of their ten matches and scored 23 goals in the process – for comparison, QPR have scored two and won once. With 47 points already they are well on course for a 100+ total and the title but they have a history of blowing terrific promotion chances and won’t be celebrating too soon. If there is a weakness it is in defence where they have already shipped 26 goals this season – you have to go down as far as twelfth and Sheffield Wednesday to find a team with a worst record and even the Owls have conceded three less than the league leaders at home. Clearly their strength is in attack with their attack now one goal better than even Reading’s but QPR’s defence, nine goals against in 12 home matches, is a strength and if there is an opponent that might not suit Wolves it could just be us. Don’t hold your breathe though.
Form Guide

Prediction
Wolves are a good team but they do concede goals, QPR are a side with faults but their defence is normally pretty good. I’m going for a one all draw and I would certainly take that if you offered me it now – it should be a cracking game whatever the score between two sides that like to play decent football.
QPR 1 Wolves 1

Photo: Action Images

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