QPR are two from two in this latest three game week, but now face a double nemesis of not only Norwich away but a team without a home win all season and a striker who hasn't scored in 13.

Norwich (2-4-11 LLDLLD 23rd) v QPR (7-4-6 LLLDWW 12th)

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The key to running jokes is you have to keep them running. It’s no use trying to cast Maris Crane for season eight (they should never have let him marry Daphne either).

I’m a decade deep into a friendship and WhatsApp chat that consists almost entirely of sending pictures to each other captioned simply “QPR’d”.

It might be Ben Hamer, who came out of retirement to help us out for a bit and got his face caved in by his own player within two and half games. “QPR’d”. It might be Kwame Poku, whose signing we heralded for its focus on EFL durability and number of appearances at a young age, lying prostate on the ground having quite obviously blown his hamstring out on debut. You R’s.

It could be that little grey tint in Marti Cifuentes’ stylishly natty fringe when he first arrived here, which we charted week by week as it spread across his head and all the way down his back while trying to teach Osman Kakay to play right full back. Or Lee Hoos, the high achieving chief executive of some seriously big clubs at this level, who arrived with such poise and purpose but later appeared at a fans forum dressed as Manchester's premier Robert Shaw tribute act, ready to give a reading on The Indianapolis monologue. Gareth Ainsworth rapidly went from Boris to Badger. They start off with grand promises and shrewd strategy, they end up being carted away shouting "she won't let me see the wee'uns".

It gets you, this club.

It gets you in all sorts of good ways too. We can do all sorts of saccharin write ups about climbing over the steps to see that luminous green field under the lights for the first time and how we were captivated and felt at home immediately (well, I can’t, we got done 2-0 at Southampton at the old Dell in my first game). We can remember standing down the side in that old stand at Carrow Road and watching Ray Wilkins free Dennis Bailey for a chipped winner in stoppage time. We can reminisce about Ian Holloway and Devon White repeating the double act in the same goal at the same end a couple of years hence. It’s the rattling the doors of a pub at Stockport County at nine in the morning that make it. Dressing gowned landlord asking “what do you want?”. We want to drink. There’s a lot of us. We’re from London. … Gimme five minutes.

But it gets you in lots of bad ways as well. Les Ferdinand went grey here. I feel that bears repeating. Les Ferdinand, a spectacular specimen of a man, a magnificent footballer, a fucking qualified helicopter pilot, went grey trying to be director of football at Loftus Road. I knew when it happened too, because I got a WhatsApp alert: “QPR’d”.

Maybe in a short time (Paul Hart), maybe in a long time (Gerry Francis), but it’ll come for you in the end. You cannot conquer it. I thought Neil Warnock had, and we sacked him six months later. I risk repeating something I said in the week, but this club bombed out Kevin Gallen twice, it bummed off Ian Holloway twice.

I was starting to think Julien Stéphan may slide into the former camp. QPR’s August was brutal, and there was a lot of that downward peering at the floor and shaking the head from side to side in interviews that Gerry used to do. Post Coventry he pointed out he’d never conceded seven goals in his career, nor seen a game where an xG of barely one produced such a score. Yeh. That’s us mate. Welcome to it. QPR’d.

I’ve been impressed with how he’s turned it around since then. It’s not easy. QPR is a difficult club to manage and once momentum is flowing against it really takes some doing to turn back that tide. Ian Holloway, one of the few who have succeeded, was able to push back on runs like that multiple times and make it work for him in the end. Mark Warburton, a grown up, too, though to a lesser extent. August, and indeed the more recent run, could have swallowed Stéphan, as it devoured many of his predecessors.

This week there’s some colour in his cheeks. There’s a smile at the start of his interviews. It feels like he’s learning about the league, and about us, a little bit. It feels like he, and we, are starting to get somewhere. Winning at Blackburn on a cold, wet Wednesday night in a three game week is not to be sniffed at – no fucker else has seemed able to manage either, never mind both at once. He’s starting to make little decisions – Mbengue and Dunne switched, Sam Field at left back – which make sense and produce good outcomes, for the players involved, for players in front and around them, and for the team. Karamoko Dembele suddenly looks more comfortable and threatening with Mbengue’s all action gratuitous violence covering behind him. Ilias Chair is having a terrific week. Esquerdinha v Ipswich may, we hope, be his nadir. All the way up from there.

Now Stéphan faces the ultimate QPR test of all. Carrow Road has been a graveyard for us for centuries. No wins in ten visits going back to 2008, no wins in eight visits before that going back to 1994. The club’s greatest ever team was denied the only league championship it was ever likely to win with a 3-2 defeat here over Easter. Winning here in normal circumstances is tough, winning here in these circumstances is borderline impossible. Because, along with all of that, present day Norwich are dog chocolate.

Kept off the bottom of the table only by the basket case that is Sheff Wed, this lot are yet to win at home. They’d lost seven straight games at Carrow Road - a club record and a start to a season only ever registered three times in Football League history by anybody – prior to the midweek game with Oxford which they led until the 95th minute and then contrived to draw 1-1. They’d been at the same score here with Leicester the home game before, having taken the lead and held it until 75, but conceded twice including once with the last kick to lose.

There is a chaotic ownership handover, with Delia Smith being replaced by American Mark Attanasio who wants to introduce a “fan zone” to Carrow Road and uproot a few thousand season ticket holders while doing so – just to lighten the mood. There is a woefully inexperienced sporting director spending £55m on players from far reaching corners of Europe’s backwaters because they look good on computer models. Having lost Borja Sainz from last season’s midfield, they not only decided Marcelino Nunez was expendable as well, but that he could go to bitter near neighbours Ipswich for a relatively piffling £8m. Read the room.

After sacking Johannes Hoff Thorup one year into his three-year plan, they’ve now also dismissed Liam Manning 16 games into a four-year contract. This is a Biffa Bin, on fire, accelerating downhill. Josh Sargent hasn't scored a goal in 13 appearances you say? I mean, just stick a red shirt on this lot and sign a sponsorship with Burmah petrol stations.

If Stéphan wins here, against all of that, in game three of a three-game week, I’ll be bloody smiling too.

Links >>> Bin Fire – Oppo Focus >>> Bruno’s Carrow Road knockout – History >>> Meet the new ref, same as the old ref – Referee >>> Norwich Official Website >>> The Pink ‘Un — Local Press and Forum >>> Eastern Daily Press — Local Press >>> My Football Writer - Norwich City >>> Along Come Norwich - Blog

Below the fold

Team News: More comebacks than Kat Slater/Mark Lazarus for the unkillable Paul Nardi who will now surely return to the number one spot for a third time in six months owing to concussion protocols around Ben Hamer’s injury at Blackburn on Wednesday night. Nardi had one of his best games for the club so far at Carrow Road last season so hopefully that might imbue him with the confidence his increasingly farcical situation would otherwise have drained from him – clean sheet and a great save at Ewood Park in the week not a bad start. Elsewhere Jake Clarke-Salter was sensibly left out of that game and long journey after doing an hour for the first time since January the prior weekend, but he will come back into contention here. We await news on Harvey Vale who has been absent for both games this week, and hamstrung Kwame Poku – he of the many aborted comebacks so far.

Amadou Mbengue posting Instagram pictures from ice baths at the training ground at 3am on Thursday morning after a long bus ride back from Blackburn show the challenges, logistically and physically, of weeks like this for the players.

Norwich were denied a first home win of the season with a 95th minute equalise against Oxford here in the week, and the good news just kept coming for the Canaries with Mirko Topić rupturing his ACL in that game and now expected to miss the rest of the season. He joins QPR’s hero of this fixture last season, Ante Crnac, on the long term absentee list. Philippe Clement’s attempt to extinguish this escalating bin fire is not helped by an absentee list that stretches now to ten first teamers. Lucien Mahovo has only played twice this season, and not since the start of October, but is back in training though won’t make this game. Likewise Ben Chrisene, last seen September 13, and Papa Diallo who hasn’t been seen since September 20. Liam Gibbs has been out since October 25.

Clement has made repeated references to the appalling fitness levels of the squad he has inherited at Carrow Road. The former Rangers boss sent on Matej Jurasek to see the win out with 15 minutes to go during the week and was so impressed with his impact he took him back off again 14 minutes later.

Elsewhere: Tonight’s TV game between Oxford and Ipswich would appear to be something of a forgone conclusion, with the U’s languishing second bottom and the Tractor Boys starting to motor like we knew they would – six unbeaten and three straight away wins with ten goals scored. But Oxford to Ipswich is The City Ground to QPR. Oxford have never lost this fixture, winning five and drawing seven of 12 meetings. It’s their longest unbeaten home run against any side, and simultaneously the longest Ipswich have gone away from home without beating a team.

Tomorrow’s lunchtime games feature two clubs where you wonder if poor form might be coming to a head managerial wise. The Cifuentes Out thread now runs to 130+ pages on Leicester City’s LFW equivalent following the midweek thrashing at Southampton, and Chris Wilder has helpfully rode into town with Sheff Utd talking about how he was interviewed for the job in the summer and felt he could have done big things with the club. Not sure we’re going to get that big Marti Christmas reunion after all.

Portsmouth were beaten 3-0 at Bramall Lane in the week as their switch from the direct football that did so well for them last year to a more progressive style this continues to falter. They’ve got a high noon showdown with Bristol City at Fratton Park.

Stoke City, a surprise early pace setter staying the course, meets another who is now falling away, Hull City, in the third of the 12.30 kick offs.

Charlton’s promotion last season was built on League One’s best defence through the second half of the season. Their impressive start to Championship life was, again, anchored by the foundation of a back line which conceded fewer home goals than any other side until last week. But a tough seven days of Southampton at home and Stoke away has seen eight put through Nathan Jones’ men. No sweat though, it’s only Coventry away next in the pick of the 3pm kick offs.

The Rob Edwards defection has, unsurprisingly, upset Middlesbrough’s surprisingly brilliant start somewhat. Just one win in six for the Teesiders now and John Eustace’s Derby can actually move to within a point of them with a win at the Riverside. Derby have, however, only won one of 16 visits to this ground.

That really typifies the congested nature of the early Championship league table. Derby and Bristol City, two midtable teams having not bad years, are just four points back from Stoke and Boro who are the surprise packages of the season. QPR, in 12th, are two points from fifth. Rangers, and Charlton, have both gone from the play-off places to 16th in double lively time recently.

This makes Millwall at home to Southampton tomorrow very interesting. Wawll are fourth, as we said they would be in the season preview, and Southampton are 13th, confounding our prediction of them being an automatic promotion contender. But Saints are only four points back from Alex Neil’s side. In this environment consecutive wins can carry you a long way in a short space of time and Southampton have four wins in a row to their name.

Watch out too for Birmingham in ninth and Watford in 13th, both improving from lousy starts and meeting on Monday night, and Wrexham in tenth, one defeat in 13 since we won there and with a very attractive homer against Blackburn. Birmingham City have lost ten of their previous 12 league games against Watford (W1 D1), and failed to win any of the last seven (D1 L6). The last league meeting between Blackburn and Wrexham was 1982.

Not sure the chaotic nature of the Championship will save Sheff Wed, whose points deduction puts them 20 points shy of safety, but they have added Nathan Redmond and Liam Cooper today which is… a punchy use of funds for a team in administration and definitely relegated. Preston are the visitors to Hillsborough this weekend – the Owls had the worst home record in the league last year bar Hull, and are without a home win in ten attempts.

Concern too at Swansea. Is Vitor Matos, one brief spell in charge at Maritimo on his CV, who you need in this situation? The Swans have lost four in a row and won just one of their last ten (that against Norwich) and now face a crunch trip to a similarly out of form West Brom.

Referee: Not to give the impression there’s a shortage of capable referees or anything, but Lewis Smith not only went from the Conference to the Premier League inside ten months to become the youngest top flight official since Michael OIiver, but he’s also the same referee we had last week at Sheff Utd. Details.

Form

- As discussed, Norwich are absolutely cratering. The Canaires are winless in their last 13 league games (D4 L9) – the worst current run in the EFL. They last failed to win 14 in a row in April 1998 in the second tier.

- Norwich’s home form is particularly horrific – seven defeats from seven played prior to the midweek draw here with lowly Oxford, who equalised in the 95th minute. That ended a club record run of seven consecutive home defeats. They are just the third side in history of English League football to lose their opening seven home games, after Newport in 70-71 (old Div 4) & Burnley in 23-24 (PL). They have scored just six times in eight games at Carrow Road.

- Ten points equals Norwich’s lowest ever tally at this stage of a league season. They are 12 points worse off than this stage last year.

- QPR, on the other hand, are chugging along quite nicely again. Three consecutive defeats and four losses in five games has been successfully turned around to three unbeaten and seven points from a possible nine. The R’s are now 11 points better off than they were at this point last season, and have climbed into the top half with victories against Hull and Blackburn so far this week.

- The away form has been particularly good. Since losing 7-1 at Coventry on August 23, QPR have lost just one of seven away league games, conceding only four goals. Julien Stephan’s team have 14 away points since that 7-1 defeat – only Coventry (16) have won more points on the road in that time.

- In fact, Jack Supple tells us that since the start of April, QPR have won more away points than any other Championship side (23 pts).

- Norwich have lost just one of their last ten league games against QPR (W4 D5), a 3-0 away loss in December 2024.

- Carrow Road, scene of the 1976 meltdown infamously, is also something of a graveyard for QPR. Rangers are winless in their last ten visits here (D4 L6) since a 1-0 victory in September 2008 when Martin Rowlands scored a thrice-taken free kick. Prior to that the R’s had lost five in a row and were winless in eight here going back to the Devon White-inspired 4-3 victory here in 1994.

- QPR have a similarly dire record at Ewood Park – just one win in 24 years and 14 visits prior to this week. Their win on Wednesday made it two wins from three visits, as many as they’d managed in the prior 21 visits to that ground. Wednesday night’s win was the 11th successive QPR win where Rangers have had less possession than the opponent. The last time they won with more was Blackburn at home in February.

- Four of Norwich’s last eight goals in the Championship have been scored by Jovon Makama, netting last time out against Oxford to help them secure their first home point of 2025-26.

- QPR have two headed goals in the Championship this season, both of them from 5ft 5ins Paul Smyth following winners at Bristol City and Blackburn on the road.

- Josh Sargent has not scored in 13 appearances. He had six goals in five games for Norwich prior to that and remains their top scorer.

- QPR have kept clean sheets in Sam Field’s last three starts at left back.

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 –it’s JB007007 had his lead at the top of this year’s table cut to three points last weekend...

“I’ve only ever been to Norwich once, back in 1987 when a friend was at university there. I remember that we took a nice trip out to Caister-on-Sea, where I caught the worst flu I’ve ever had. But, for a town I’ve hardly visited, I seem to have a lot of memories about the place. As a kid I used to watch ‘Sale of The Century’ with its famous ‘From Norwich, it’s the quiz of the week’ introduction. Then Bernard Matthews would try to sell you his turkeys during the adverts, along with commercials for Colman’s mustard and Norwich Union life insurance.

“There was Justin Fashanu with that fantastic strike against Liverpool that won goal of the season in 1980 that was then added to the opening credits of Match of the Day. Norwich City’s UEFA cup run of 1993, with Ruel Fox being the player that lives on in my memory. Much later there was Delia, with her half-time ‘Let’s be ‘avin’ you’ rallying cry and, more recently, Alan Partridge’s tremendous radio and television shows. Call Norris McWhirter! And, of course, every pub quiz has to have a team called “Norfolk ‘n’ Chance.”

“Wednesday saw a hard-fought victory against Blackburn, where the two Pauls – Nardi and Smyth – were the Rangers heroes. Saturday's away trip to Norwich is the dreaded third game of three this week and I am expecting multiple changes to the team with possible starts for RND, JCS, Poku and Kolli – none of whom featured against Rovers. Madsen seems to be Julien’s go-to midfielder at the moment and will start with (I think) Hayden.

“Norwich have been surprisingly poor so far this season but we all know what that usually means. Can Rangers buck the trend and win three times in eight days? Yes. Chair with the only goal. Before I go, a quick question. What do you think about the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre? (Access to Dixons? – Ed)”

QPR_Hibs Prediction: Norwich 0-1 QPR. Scorer – Ilias Chair

LFW’s Prediction: Norwich 1-0 QPR. Scorer – Keith Scott

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

Geoff78 added 22:00 - Nov 28 Wouldn't be surprised if Madsen is benched. Definite signs he's running out of steam in the Blackburn game.
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tkqpr added 10:32 - Nov 29 Ah -haaaaa!
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TacticalR added 14:38 - Nov 29 Thanks for your preview. Ainsworth aged by the day. The great gift of Warnock was managing (perhaps even relishing) the madness. It remains to be seen how Stéphan rides the tiger. As for Norwich, the 'oppo in crisis' omens (striker not scoring etc.) are so good they are bad, if you know what I mean.
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nesteroid added 20:16 - Dec 3 https://mrpunter-slots.com/
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