The return of Mark Hughes to Loftus Road for the first time since his sacking adds spice to an important fixture for both QPR and Stoke City, who have won just two league games between them from eight played so far.

Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City

Five games in, and the knives are out for QPR. The Metro took time out earlier this week to offer its readers "five things that are wrong with QPR" while the Telegraph set its top man Paul Hayward away on a piece about a "club with an identity crisis, on the brink of collapse".

It seems odd, as Manchester United agree to pay a player £300,000 a week, and start off-the-record talks with the agent of another they'll apparently pay £500,000 to every seven days, that it's once again Queens Park Rangers being held up as everything that's wrong with the sport, but there it is. Everything from the quality of the summer signings at Loftus Road, to the colour of the away kits, is fair game.

This criticism isn't without plenty of foundation. We all know the club has been appallingly run for quite sometime, and we'll come onto what happened last time they were in the Premier League shortly. The R's have started this second attempt at a return to the top flight with four defeats, and just a single goal scored, from their first five matches. Their two away games in the league so far have both been lost 4-0 and the manner of the performances in both had alarm bells ringing loud and clear. League Two Burton Albion eliminated a QPR team packed with high-earning reserve players the club is struggling to shift on more comfortably than a 1-0 scoreline suggests.

Manager Harry Redknapp — never short of an excuse to deflect blame from himself — says the club had a poor pre-season, as if somebody else is responsible for organising the pre-season. Redknapp says his players aren't fit enough, as if it's somebody else's responsibility to get them fit. Redknapp says the signings were made late in the window and he hasn't had a chance to work with the players yet, as if somebody else is in charge of the signings. Redknapp says a number of the QPR players were delayed in returning to club action because they went to the World Cup, as if QPR held the complete monopoly on sending players to Brazil and were the only English club represented there. Redknapp says a number of his players have been away on international duty, again as if QPR are the only club with this problem, and as if it's a complete surprise that if you watch the Chilean national team, buy a couple of their players on the back of their performances, they will subsequently have to go away and play for Chile again once you've signed them.

Redknapp is laying it on thick, and it's starting to wear thin.

But the time to judge QPR and their manager isn't now, and even if it was the picture is nowhere near as dark as you'd believe reading the press this week. Rangers already have a first win under their belts — a deserved 1-0 success against Sunderland — when it took them 16 goes to get that far last time they were in this division. It could and should have been two, with a fine performance against Hull on day one missing only a goal. The signings during the summer seemed much shrewder, and of a higher quality, than the mixed bag of wasters the club went for two years ago.

Rangers were always highly unlikely to take anything from game at Tottenham and Manchester United. Their attitude to both was lamentable. Redknapp described the trip to Old Trafford as a "bonus game", which is fine to an extent — it's not a game you'd want to be relying upon for any points — but that does rather beg the question why the approach to such a match is to play at half pace, sit back and see if a 0-0 draw falls into your lap, particularly when eight teams last year and Swansea already this term have taken maximum points by going to Old Trafford and playing a normal, attacking style. Redknapp has lost all 15 of his visits to Old Trafford with West Ham, Portsmouth and now QPR and his approach to trips there is akin to getting a £10 free bet from Ladbrokes and giving it to the Cat's Home because "I've never been much cop at this betting lark anyway". At least have a punt with it, you never know. But the defeats were, nevertheless, not unexpected.

The "threat" that QPR could be relegated to the Conference thanks to the new Financial Fair Play laws also seem rather cooked up. This story is based on a comment from the Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey, who really should be more professional than to comment on specific individual cases before they're heard and decided, but nevertheless was presented with a scenario where QPR report a £60m+ loss for last season, receive a £40m+ fine under the Fair Play laws, fail in the inevitable legal challenges to it, are then relegated, and refuse to pay the fine. In outlining the various punishments available, he mentioned that clubs who refuse to pay fines owed to the league can be refused admission to it, in which case the next available league is the Conference. QPR will make a substantial loss when their accounts are released, but will almost certainly challenge the untested Fair Play regulations arguing that they had to honour big-money contracts to the likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips that were signed without relegation release clauses before the laws were brought in. Morally, completely against the spirit of the rules. Legally, a decent argument. If they fail, they might well pay the fine. If they don't, any number of punishments could be metered out, not necessarily total expulsion. There's certainly a lot of water to go under the bridge before it gets to that stage, not that you'd know it from the lazy, sensationalist headlines. To lead stories with "QPR could be relegated to the Conference" is rather like headlining page one of the London Evening Standard with "millions to be homeless, thousands to die" on a story that says if it rained torrentially, constantly, in London for the next 40 days and 40 nights, after Boris Johnson passed a motion to concrete over every third street drain, the city will flood.

The time to start passing judgement, and either resting easy on QPR's prospects this season, or commencing the Team America secret signal and putting some feelers out in Tony Pulis' direction, is probably still a good month away. The excuses about fitness, tough fixtures, World Cup hangovers, lack of time to work with the players will soon be lost to Harry Redknapp as his new-look team embarks on a series of games that, while by no means easy, are certainly ones you need to be taking a few points from if you want to avoid relegation. Southampton and Aston Villa have started the season a good deal more strongly than many expected after tumultuous summers, and West Ham looked half decent at Hull on Monday night, but there aren't too many Barnsleys and Yeovils in this league and Rangers have to pick up wins from somewhere. These next five matches will tell us far more than the last five.

The run starts tomorrow at Loftus Road with the first return to Mark Hughes to Shepherd's Bush since his sacking after a disastrous start to the 2012/13 Premier League season. The fact that the Welshman, as he did at Blackburn and Fulham before he pitched up in W12, has done a decent job at Stoke City over the last 12 months is potentially another stick to beat QPR with. If he's done well with these three clubs, and not with you, then it must be partly your problem. And that's partly true — Tony Fernandes and Phil Beard, supposedly experienced businessmen, get away far too lightly with their own part in allowing their club to be sadlled with four dozen highly-paid, under-performing members of staff on and off the field of Hughes' choosing. Whether they have wised up to the extent they say will, again, start to become apparent over the next five or six games.

But let's not release Meticulous Mark Hughes quite that easily. Remember this was a man who walked out on Fulham — at the time a settled midtable Premier League team with a recent European final under their belts — because they lacked ambition to match his own. "Ambition" it turns out translates to allowing Hughes and his chums Mike Rigg and Kia Joorabchian to toss a club's money around as if it's in never ending supply. Hughes was tipped for Villa but turned them down expecting an approach from Chelsea. That's the arrogance of the man.

At Stoke he's walked into the house, or more to the point the training ground and squad, that Tony Pulis built and had to do very little to it. More of a nod and a "carry on" followed by a whole load of praise and credit.

Two moments from Hughes' dire ten months at Loftus Road — during which he failed to register a single away win — stand out for me and may become relevant if Stoke's poor start to the season continues to manifest. The first was in the dressing room after the incredibly lucky survival on the final day of the season at Manchester City, when QPR conceded twice in injury time and were subsequently only one Bolton goal at Stoke away from the drop — both Stoke goals that day wouldn't have happened with more competent refereeing. Hughes said "this club will never be in this position again while I'm here." The brash arrogance less troubling than the sheer complacency. He thought he was going to go out and sign a whole clutch of big names and march on up the league never to trouble the dotted line near the bottom again.

The second was an honest, frank, and deeply troubleing interview from his assistant manager Mark Bowen on the Open All R's Podcast five months later when it was all falling apart around their ears. Credit Bowen for having the stones to front up to that interview — stones clearly lacking in Hughes — but the sheer number of times the former Norwich left back said "don't know" and "can't put my finger on it" in that piece was alarming. As far as Hughes and the Taffia were concerned they'd signed loads of good players, their preparation for every game was "meticulous" and that should be enough. When things went wrong they genuinely didn't know what to do. Literally clueless. As it turned out, after their departure, the players they'd signed, often with Kia's greasy finger prints all over them, were too old and unfit and, mostly, hated each other. Hughes had singularly failed to integrate the new comers into the club, instead choosing to ostracise and sideline the backbone of the side he inherited from Neil Warnock. It was appalling man management, once again laced with complacency and arrogance.

Stoke have everything they need to be a top half team again this season, but have started the season with home defeats to Leicester and Villa, and a poor performance and draw at Hull when the hosts played for 75 minutes with ten men. They won at Manchester City with their backs to the wall, and actually played very well against the Foxes despite the result by all accounts, so should still have too much for QPR on Saturday, but a real test of Hughes will come if they don't. And they don't next week. And the week after that. Then what? Because when that happened during his stint at Loftus Road, with a team he'd almost entirely assembled himself, he didn't have a single idea what to do about it.

Links >>> Opposition Profile >>> Opposition Interview >>> Fixture History >>> An Evening With Gerry Francis — podcast >>> Referee >>> 'Arry's big Thursday excuse-a-thon >>> Betting

QPR's Andy Thomson, Mark Perry and Sammy Koejoe wade into a fight with Stoke goalkeeper Gavin Ward and defender Wayne Thomas during a meeting between these sides at Loftus Road on the opening day of the 2001/02 season. Rangers, freshly relegated and in administration, had started the pre-season with just six fit professionals signed up, but won 1-0 against hotly-tipped Stoke thanks to a goal from Thomson and a super rearguard action from a new-look defence marshalled superbly by captain Steve Palmer and debutant goalkeeper Chris Day.

Saturday

Jon Walters (calf) and Marko Arnautovic (foot) are both doubts for Stoke but Stephen Ireland has recovered from a rib injury and Mame Biram Diouf is pushing for a recall.

Elsewhere: In the increasingly irrelevant European Super League bit of the "best league in the world" this weekend Manchester City continue their taxing start to the season with a home match against Big Racist John and the Gang on Sunday. Louis Van Gaal travels to Leicester for their "bonus match" when presumably Nige and his troops will lay down their arms and wave the "Gaalacticos" (sorry, a little bit of a sick came up, bear with me a moment) through. Likewise Aston Villa at home to Arsenal and West Ham at home to Liverpool on Saturday evening.

In the games that might actually be competitive and relevant to little old QPR, fresh from their big day out at the Theatre of Dreams, Burnley host Sunderland looking for a first win of the season, Swansea host Southampton having both started the season excellently while being entirely ignored by the media, while Newcastle host Hull where an away win will have them turning over cars and looting shops long into the night in the North East.

European Super League wannabees Everton host Crystal Palace, while Tottenham are at home to already relegated West Brom.

Referee: For the third time in his career, Martin Atkinson takes charge of a game between QPR and Stoke this weekend. The previous two appointments were both at the Britannia Stadium — in the Championship in 2006, and the Premier League shortly before Mark Hughes got the bullet the last time the R's were at this level. Stoke fans will likely remember him more for his abysmal handling of their 5-1 set back at Newcastle last season when they had two players harshly sent off. For his full QPR case history and stats please click here.

Form

QPR: Rangers have started the season with four defeats and a win from heir first five, but have only scored once while shipping ten in all competitions. Doesn't take a maths genius to realise that averaging more than two goals a game at the wrong end while scoring at a rate of 0.2 a match isn't going to get you very far very fast. At Loftus Road, Rangers have won one and lost one and played well in both, keeping a clean sheet in the victory here against Sunderland last time out. They have conceded four goals from set pieces already this season. Goals were a problem last season too, with only 60 scored in the league (12th-best record) and more than a third of those coming from Charlie Austin, who has scored 11 goals in his last 13 appearances at this ground. The goal difference of minus eight is, needless to say, the worst in the league.

Stoke: Stoke have lost both their home games without scoring against Villa and Leciester, but on the road they've taken four points from difficult trips to Hull and champions Manchester City. They've lost just one of their last seven away games — in stark contrast to the form they used to display under Tony Pulis — going back into last season and won 2-0 at Loftus Road on their last visit to this ground, although they've only ever won three of 17 trips to W12. Stoke, too, have struggled for goals, with only two scored in four league games so far. Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has only been required to make three saves so far this season in four league games.

Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding writes…

"QPR get the weekend's Premier League fixtures underway when former boss Mark Hughes brings his Stoke side to Loftus Road for the early kick off.

"Rangers return to the comfort of their home patch after another pathetic display away from home a week ago. Just what Harry is thinking when he takes his team away from home has me and many others completely baffled. It has been clear to see on every occasion Man United have been beaten at Old Trafford that every opposition side has played a high pressing game, and pretty much thrown caution to the wind. Did he watch the Swansea game a few weeks ago? Its mind boggling he would set up as he did, and it's even more galling that he continues to do it every time we travel away.

"Moving swiftly onto this weeks match - Stoke had a poor result themselves last week when new boys Leicester made the short trip west to steal all three points from the Potters. Stoke were coming off the back of a wonderful 1-0 victory against Man City and in truth should have won the game against the Foxes. A lot of the talk in Stoke was of Peter Crouch moving on in the transfer window but he has stayed put and looked their most dangerous outlet versus Leicester, although Mame Biram Diouf will probably replace him for this one. With the surprise signing of the summer, Bojan, and Victor Moses - Stoke look to have a bit of pace and trickery now going forward. But they have weaknesses - Glenn Whelan often flatters to deceive in the centre of midfield but works hard, along with the box to box energy of Steven Nzonzi. This is going to be a very tough game for the Rangers faithful who will be praying Mark Hughes has as much luck at Loftus Road as a visiting manager as he did as the home boss.

"Stoke are set up perfectly for an away day as the team currently shapes up and I can't see QPR winning here. That is borne out by the fact that Stoke have only lost one of their previous seven Premier League away games and that was against an (at the time) title chasing Chelsea. Only West Brom drew more games than Stoke last season and I think the draw is overpriced here. Trying to predict QPR results this season is proving very difficult as they seem to have two entirely different teams, yet with much the same players - depending if they are home or away - so it does seem sensible to lean towards the draw."

Recommended bet: QPR v Stoke - Draw - 9/4 (Bet365 / Coral)

Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion WestonSuperR says…

"Please, please, please can we win this one? I actually think (although not certain) that I want to beat Stoke more than Chelsea this season. We have had our fun beating Chelsea home and away in the Premier League recently and the thought of watching Mark Hughes having to trudge off after a defeat with the Loftus Road faithful reminding him of the score is, at this stage, just a dream but is also something that I think can be achieved. The crowd will be up for this and after the last home game being a win I am expect the players to be up for it also.

"Our home form at this early stage has been quite reasonable. I’d argue we actually looked better against Hull than Sunderland and certainly created more chances, but both games produced performances that were good enough so we should have some confidence going into this latest home match.

"Hughes did manage to pull off superb win away at Man City but I hope this was a one off as his away record as a manager of Fulham and QPR was dreadful.

"Sing loud and proud, get behind the boys and I think we can scrape another 1-0 win. I don’t expect it to be pretty but any win will do in this one."

John's Prediction: QPR 1-0 Stoke. First Goalscorer: Charlie Austin.
LFW's Prediction: QPR 1-1 Stoke. First Goalscorer: Eduardo Vargas

The Twitter @loftforwords

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Photo: Action Images

TacticalR added 21:23 - Sep 19 I'm sure most of us are pretty desperate to win this one. The faith placed in Hughes does place a question mark over the current regime at QPR. Let's put it this way...things are more likely to work out for the better if you interview him rather than him interviewing you.
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RangerKIK added 23:22 - Sep 19 I totally agree with Owen. Harry's tactics away from home are completely baffling! To call a match in the premiership a 'bonus game' is ridiculous. Harry there are just er 'games'. Games that you try and figure out a way to win. Simple as that. Not play to not lose as you will then more often than not er lose. Plus it is the connotation that bonus means 'doesn't matter'. Surely if we must do the 'bonus game' thing that has to mean throwing caution to the wind and doing everything we can to win and if we don't well it wasn't expected. Surely that equals 'bonus' and I would be happy with that mentality against the top 6 away from home. But 'bonus' as in unimportant is like getting a free hit (can't be caught out) after a no ball in 20-20 cricket and..... blocking it!!!!!!

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ozranger added 23:28 - Sep 19 "Redknapp is laying it on thick, and it's starting to wear thin. " Again I refer to the horrible hacks, as you have eluded to in your pre-game presser discussions, that the UK seems to have. They have absolutely no guts to ask the real questions, as you have above. Here, in Aussieland, the journos do not hold back and I can tell you that there have been more than the occasional confrontation when a coach/manager is asked a question he or she would rather not answer - I've been there to see it personally. However, the journos in UK are so tempered in their questions that one wonders why they are being paid. Then, they come up with some of the most ridiculous articles based on nothing and without having asked the real questions that would have revealed what they should be writing about, the real controversies like why the team is not fit, who picked the players, why is Harry not taking responsibility, etc, etc..

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ShotKneesHoop added 23:49 - Sep 19 Clive,you have given a really honest view of the upcoming game. Hurts to read it but it's true. I want us to win tomorrow but I get the awful feeling that we are being run by a clone of Hughes, (clueless the both of them) - if the result goes against us - and I get the vibes that it will, then who will 'Arry blame for that? The lack on rain in September? Alex Salmond resigning? The Queen offering to rent out Balmoral to Ruper Murdock?

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