With QPR’s game at Newcastle not scheduled to take place until tomorrow the rest of the Championship has been left to fight it out in our absence tonight.

Should Rangers win their two games in hand, the first of which is tomorrow at Newcastle the second against Crystal Palace in November, then they would be up to third in the table as it stands tonight. That comes after some strange results this evening – chief amongst them Cardiff’s 6-1 home win against hapless Derby where Michael Chopra hit a hat trick. Bottom three side Plymouth, on a club record run of seven straight defeats, won 2-1 at Peterborough and Ipswich were within 60 seconds of finally breaking their duck for Roy Keane but shipped a stoppage time equaliser to everybody’s favourite thug Chris Morgan and left Sheff Utd with only a 3-3 draw for their efforts. Lowly Reading got a surprise win at play off chasing Preston 2-1, West Brom were beaten 3-1 at Barnsley and Blackpool lost 2-0 at Bristol City in a bad night all round for the top six and a good night for QPR.

Back at QPR today Gianni Di Marzio, who has been knocking around Loftus Road in some form of scouting or adviser role since the Flavio Briatore takeover, has signalled his intentions to continue in that role despite speculation in Italy linking him with a move to Napoli. Di Marzio told Novantesimo.it: “I have never been contacted by [Napoli owner Aurelio] De Laurentiis. I am comfortable at Queens Park Rangers in England, and I don't believe that I will immerse myself in the chaotic happenings like those going on at Napoli at the moment." Di Marzio has managed Napoli in the past as well as Lecce, Genoa and Palermo among others and is widely credited with “discovering” Maradona while Napoli manager.

On loan striker Jay Simpson has been talking about how he is relishing playing in a winning side, and as an out and out forward, after spending last season playing wide in a struggling West Brom side. He told the Ealing Gazette: “My last two loan spells were with teams fighting relegation, so I think it will help me a lot being here, where the team is pushing for success. It is difficult at times when you're down there, because sometimes there's not such a great atmosphere around the changing room and maybe even some players have given up hope. The fact that it was a team looking up rather than down helped me make the decision to come here, really, and now I'm looking forward to the new challenge. Mind you, being in a team that was relegated didn't affect my confidence. I still enjoyed it and my first spell out on loan two seasons ago helped me grow up into a man.”

Simpson may soon be being supplied with chances by Lee Cook who stepped up his recovery from knee surgery from today after receiving positive results from his latest scans. Physio Paul Hunter told the club’s official website: “'It's really positive news. The scan showed significant healing in the area of the knee affected by the injury and that's great news.” Cook will now apparently use an anti gravity treadmill (whatever the hell that is) as he continues his recovery.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s daunting trip to league leaders Newcastle the R’s have received a boost today with the news that Fabio Coloccini is definitely out injured for the hosts, his central defensive partner Steven Taylor is doubtful, and their set piece specialist Ryan Taylor also faces a race to be fit.

Manager Jim Magilton has promised to go and have a go at winning the game, rather than sitting in and aiming for a point. Magilton told the club’s official website: “'We will see what we can go and get. We will set out a team that can go there and win the game.We will go there with great confidence after Saturday and the way we've played over the last few weeks. The confidence within this group of players is quite remarkable at the moment and we believe we can beat anyone on our day.”

Former Newcastle player and lifelong Geordie fan Peter Ramage looks set for a place on the QPR bench on Wednesday with Mikele Leigertwood in great form at right back. Ramage said: “It’s been frustrating, and I’ve been itching to get on. If I start, I’ll be looking forward to it more than any of the other. Everyone knows what Newcastle means to me. If I’m not playing, I’ll be supporting my team-mates and trying to gee them up. It’s an old cliché, but it’s not about me. It’s about the team getting a result. If I play, then great. This is the fixture I looked for – I didn’t care about the others. But it’s not only myself, but the other lads as well. Newcastle’s a Premier League team, and it’s like drawing them in the cup.”

The full LFW match preview will be online first thing tomorrow morning.

Photo: Action Images

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