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Key men missing as QPR aim to repeat Stoke City magic
QPR have mixed news on the injury front ahead of their game against Stoke City at Loftus Road on Saturday (3pm). While the club have announced that forward Karamoko Dembele is out until February after undergoing knee surgery, QPR will have Joe Walsh, Morgan Fox and Kenneth Paal available to face the Potters.
The game should still be a banker for Narcis Pelach’s resurgent team with Rangers on a run of 11 games without victory. In fact, the Hoops have only won once so far this season and are five points adrift at the bottom of the Championship table.
They will also be without key men Jake Clarke-Salter and Ilias Chair at Loftus Road this weekend, while Michael Frey and Jack Colback are also likely absentees through injury.
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But Stoke have a reputation for often slipping up after international breaks and against struggling teams. And the knowledge that they have won just one of their last seven league games at QPR, and with both defeats in that sequence courtesy of 4-2 scorelines, Potters fans will travel to West London with a certain amount of foreboding.
One of those 4-2 losses came almost a year ago, with Enda Stevens receiving his marching orders and Ben Pearson scoring an own goal as the hosts rallied from 2-1 down in the final 12 minutes to triumph.
Nevertheless, the stats are on the visitors’ side, with the Potters four points clear of the drop zone and six off the play-offs having lost just one of their last eight Championship matches (W3 D4) after a tricky start to the season and an uncertain transition from Steve Schumacher to Pelach as head coach.
They will be hoping for more fireworks from South Korean ace Bae Junho. No player in the Championship has more assists this season, and six-goal striker Tom Cannon will be keen to benefit and continue his own run. He has three goals in Stoke’s last five games.
Stoke boss Pelach will be forced into making at least one change with Wouter Berger serving a one-match ban. Jordan Thompson is in line to return to the midfield as a straight replacement.
