After almost tripping over the supposed gimme at Sheff Wed on Saturday, QPR now face another game where they’re expected to both win and dominate the ball.

QPR (3-2-2 LLWWWD 10th) v Oxford (1-2-4 LLDDWL 23rd)

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Queens Park Rangers took six points from Oxford United last season – the first time the two had shared a division since 1998/99. They were arguably the U’s two worst performances of the season as they scrapped for Championship survival on their first return to the second tier in more than 25 years, but in truth neither side covered itself in much glory across the 180+ minutes.

Injury riddled and chronically out of form, QPR did make a promising start to the away game in April. Despite being so short on numbers Daniel Bennie had to start as a lone striker, the R’s went into a comfortable 2-0 lead when the two players on the pitch who actually looked like footballers – Ronnie Edwards and Sam Field – bundled in close range efforts (the latter went down as an own goal).

Oxford looked absolutely bereft and yet when the Rangers bench pissed around with a substitution at the start of the second half, choosing to play a period of the game with ten men rather than just shoving any warm body they could find out there, it created an opportunity even Gary Rowett’s side couldn’t pass up. From two goals up and cruising, Rangers were back into shitting out a snooker table territory through a torturous last half hour as they clung to a result needed to stop their latest trough in from turning into a full-blown relegation battle. Things were eventually, belatedly, settled in injury time by Yang Min-Hyeok’s breakaway third.

Field scored twice, and Rangers won once more, in the first meeting that season though it was, somehow, an even lower quality game.

Spending two decades writing previews and reports of every QPR game doesn’t leave you a lot of places to go for angles and narrative, and we are perhaps – ahem – prone to an occasional exaggeration or six. Still, it’s difficult to recall sitting through a worse game of football at Loftus Road than that one, certainly in the first half, and that’s really saying something coming from somebody who has effectively watched every QPR game for 30 mostly terrible years.

Oxford were about to sack Des Buckingham and didn’t have an away win to their name (they’ve only managed three since promotion). QPR had recently abandoned their progressive, possession-based game model for a three-man midblock midfield, deep defence and who needs the ball anyway after winning just two of the first 17 matches. What ensued was two teams effectively giving the ball away to each other so they could both try and counter attack. A giant footballing tennis match ensued, with the ball leathered back and forth across the halfway line, and pass completions in low single figured (percentage, and totals). It was like somebody had physically manifested my worst nightmare then charged me £30 to sit and watch it. Minds drifted back to that Ipswich home game during Mick Harford’s caretaker reign which he described as “unbefitting a professional sports organisation”.

Oxford arrive back in town tonight following another similar switch in styles from QPR in the wake of their 7-1 shellacking at Coventry. Rangers have gone less possession-based once more, with far less playing out from the back, and much more direct up to their newly formed dynamic duo in attack to play to the pace of Rumarn Burrell and the physical strength of Richard Kone.

It paid immediate dividends with wins against Charlton, Wrexham and Stoke. In those games QPR had 44%, 39% and 35% of the ball respectively. In fact, the team’s last seven victories have all come in games where they had less of the ball (Sunderland 42%, Preston 44%, Oxford 48% and Derby 49%). Meanwhile the last eight games in which Rangers had more of the ball yielded just two points (Watford 54%, Preston 58%, Swansea 55%, Cardiff 60%, Boro 54%, West Brom 62%, Sheff Utd 56% and Portsmouth 53%.) Hat tip to @HoopsDreams_QPR for a lot of this by the way.

Partly, as we’ve said a lot recently, this is just the way football is quickly moving, developing and evolving. Mercifully, the end to the Pep Guardiola/Russell Martin death by 1,500 passes in your own penalty area era seems to be coming to a close and replaced by a much faster, more physical, more exciting form of the sport. But it also speaks to what the QPR players are good at (particularly now some pace has been added to the side by a much better summer of recruitment), and what they’re not good at, as Julien Stéphan said in his recent interview with us.

At Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday we were almost back to that Oxford game of a year ago. QPR, this time, were favourites to win against a financially stricken club and ailing side shorn of almost all its key performers and assets. They were expected to take the game to Wednesday after three wins in a row, and record a victory on a ground where the Owls had lost every league game without scoring. The possession was back up at 50% for Stéphan's team. And yet, in the first half at least, they fell in a hole. Koki Saito was marshalled well, Wednesday went deep to deny Burrell space to run in behind, and it totally nullified the visitors. At the other end, with Barry Bannan pulling the strings, Pedersen’s team were unfortunate not to lead by more than one at the break.

To be honest, it’s difficult to really pin down who and what QPR, or any side, is about at this stage of the season. The first four games were horrendous, the next four have been much better, but this is still a team finding its feet, bedding new players in, getting up to full fitness, and awaiting the return of key figures from injury. The manager has been here a very short period of time. It’s likely we’ll look far different three, six, nine months down the track. But, these previews don’t write themselves, and as we prepare to welcome Oxford back to W12 tonight one challenge remains the same this year as it did last – how we approach and attack games like this where we will have more of the ball, we will go in as favourites and we are expected to go on and win.

It’s perhaps a reflection of how uncomfortable we are in that skin that the odds on a QPR home win against a side that has won just three of its 26 Championship away matches tonight are against. Still favourites, but 11/10 versus 5/2.

And that’s without getting into QPR’s other bête noire – the three game week.

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Below the fold

Team News: Amadou Mbengue remains one yellow card away from a one-match ban which means a return for Jake Clarke-Salter could be very timely. Sadly it seems he only lasted 11 minutes of his comeback for the development squad last night. Ilias Chair and Kwame Poku remain sidelined until after the international break. Stéphan has named an unchanged QPR team for three games in a row, something that didn’t happen once last season, but after a lacklustre display at Hillsborough and three half time substitutions it might be reasonable to expect changes tonight.

Former QPR winger Matt Phillips (if I pulled out as often as him I wouldn’t have to sit in the family stand etc etc) is out injured, and Ole Romeny who scored an own goal in QPR’s favour during the last meeting hasn’t featured yet this season.

Elsewhere: A good night for the four draw coupon in the Championship last night, but not a great one for the LFW Season Preview which as things stand has every team out by the thick end of 15 places – quite a difficult thing to do even if you were trying to do it. IF Rangers can overcome their self-consciousness and win tonight they could climb as high as third in the table.

Our tips for the top continue to labour. Ipswich drew 1-1 at home to Bristol City, Birmingham’s hubris continues to look rather hilarious after a 2-2 home draw with Sheff Wed, and although Southampton did win it came at the expense of Sheff Utd who have now lost eight of nine games. Surprise early pace setters Middlesbrough and Stoke shared a draw at the Riverside.

A tie too for big spending Derby at home to Charlton leaves the Rams, many people’s summer dark horse, skirting along the top of the relegation zone. Blackburn have entered the banning the local newspaper stage of their clusterfuck and were beaten at Ewood Park by Swanselona. Hull and Preston, both of whom we had in the bottom three, shared a Desmond on Humberside.

Wide open for Rangers tonight then, with Millwall v Coventry the pick of the other games while Norwich host West Brom and Pompey are at home to Watford.

Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo, a newbie on the EFL list with an interesting back story, gets his QPR debut at Loftus Road on Wednesday night. Although this will only be his ninth Championship fixture, it will already be his third outing at this level with Oxford having made his bow in their win at Millwall on New Year’s Day. Details.

Form

- Having drawn one and lost three of their first four games, QPR have won three and drawn one of the next four. The R’s are unbeaten in four games since the 7-1 capitulation at Coventry in their third league game.

- QPR have two home wins on the board already against Charlton and Stoke, and three league wins overall. Last season it took them 19 games to get to three wins and ten home games to win at Loftus Road at all. Their second home victory came in game 11 against Oxford on December 11.

- Oxford have only one win to their name so far, but it was an impressive one – 3-1 away at Bristol City in their last away game. Having started with three league defeats they have drawn two and won one of the last four, taking points from Coventry and Leicester in the process.

- That win at Ashton Gate is just Oxford’s fifth in their last 26 Championship games. They have won just three of their 26 away matches at this level since promotion last summer. The U’s could win back-to-back away league games for the first time since April 2024, and the first time in the top two tiers since November 1998.

- QPR won both meetings in 2024/25 in what were arguably Oxford’s two worst performances of the season. Rangers haven’t lost to the U’s since the infamous 4-1 at the Manor Ground in September 1998 which cost Ray Harford his job, although there have only been four meetings in the 27 years since then. If the R’s win here it’ll be the first time they’ve beaten Oxford in four consecutive games.

- No Championship team has scored as many goals from set pieces as Oxford’s seven, nor relied on set pieces for such a high percentage of goals (7/9 = 77.8%).

- This fixture last season was one of the worst football games staged at this ground in living memory, between two teams trying to deliberately surrender possession so they could counter attack each other. Oxford already have the lowest average possession in the Championship this season – 40%.

- QPR have won both of their past two Championship home games and could avoid defeat in their first four home matches of a league campaign for the first time since 2017-18 (5).

- Oxford haven’t won at Loftus Road since December 1969 in the old Second Division. There have been 12 meetings here since then with QPR winning nine and three draws.

- Nicolas Madsen’s penalty at Sheff Wed on Saturday maintained QPR’s record of scoring in every game they’ve played so far. In the Championship only Leicester, Wrexham and QPR have scored in every game they’ve played so far. Across the whole Football League it’s only those three and Liverpool.

- QPR’s Championship games have seen 24 goals so far this season (F11 A13), with only Wrexham’s matches producing more (25).

- QPR had a club record 23 different scorers in all comps last season and have set off in much the same vein this year with Nicolas Madsen the tenth different scorer already. Own Goals finished joint third top scorer with four last season, and Rangers have already had two in their favour this.

- Spurs loanee Will Lankshear is Oxford’s top scorer with three. Richard Kone tops the charts at QPR with the same.

- Gary Rowett has only won one of his eight away league games at QPR as a manager (D3 L4), a 2-1 victory with Millwall in February 2023.

Prediction

In our Prediction League for 2025/26 we’ll once again be handing out prizes for being top at Christmas and overall winner from The Art of Football - sample the merch from our sponsor’s newly extended QPR collection here. QPR_Hibs won last season’s Prediction League at a canter and is lending his thoughts to this year’s previews – previous winner Ned_Kennedys is setting the early pace this year...

“I was watching the Newcastle v Arsenal game on TV at the weekend, and I couldn’t believe what I witnessed. I’m referring to the late winner that was scored by the Gunners. Not the actual goal itself, but the graphic put up on the screen by the broadcaster immediately afterwards. ‘Gabriel has scored four goals with headers directly off of corners.’ Well, that’s fine if you’re writing a match report or talking to your mates in the pub – but on national TV it should be ‘from.’ He’s scored with headers directly FROM corners. This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.

“Anyway, that Arsenal game was a far more entertaining spectacle than the lacklustre fare on offer at Hillsborough on Saturday. A poor referee and a weary looking QPR side made it a difficult watch for me. I thought the introduction of Hayden made us a little better in the second half and Dembele was really good for about ten minutes. Madsen took his penalty well and RND was our best player.

“I have a sneaking suspicion that Michi Frey is going to start against Oxford on Wednesday with Burrell replacing him on the hour. I also think some more of Saturday’s bench players will feature from kick off, but I don’t have any idea what those changes will look like. If we can win the match, then a point away at Wednesday will look like a decent outcome.

“Oxford are in the bottom three with just one league win this season (away at Bristol City) and QPR must be wary of underestimating them. I have always rated Tyler Goodrham and he can’t even get into their starting XI at the moment. I am hoping for a comfortable home win with Jimmy Dunne getting the opener.”

QPR_Hibs Prediction: QPR 2-0 Oxford. Scorer – Jimmy Dunne

LFW’s Prediction: QPR 2-0 Oxford. Scorer – Richard Kone

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Queens Park Rangers Polls