THE OPPOSITION
QPR have enjoyed a solid start to the campaign, coming into tonight's game on the back of four points from their last two Sky Bet Championship outings.
Their opening 13 games have yielded four wins, five draws, and four defeats. Those victories have come against Nottingham Forest, Cardiff City, Derby County, and, most recently, Rotherham United on Tuesday night. Mark Warburton's side have also taken points off Middlesbrough, Bournemouth, and Watford this campaign as they look to improve on last season's 13th place finish.
The 19/20 campaign saw QPR concede 76 league goals. The summer addition of Oxford United's Rob Dickie has bolstered Rangers' defence but they have still shipped 21 in 14 games in all competitions this time round.
At the other end of the pitch, Lyndon Dykes and Macauley Bonne have been tasked with replacing the 44 goals that Jordan Hugill, Nahki Wells, and Ebere Eze contributed last time round. Dykes has four so far, as has midfielder Ilias Chair, while Bonne has two from five starts.
TEAM NEWS
Shandon Baptiste (knee), Mads Roerslev (foot) and Christian Norgaard (ankle) miss out tonight but Josh Dasilva is fit after going off on Tuesday night with a dead leg.
QPR's injury issues are mainly in the centre of defence. The Rs hope Rob Dickie will recover from an ankle injury for tonight's game while Yoann Barbet and Conor Masterson both picked up knocks on Tuesday night that make them doubts.
THE MANAGER
A man well known to the Brentford faithful, Mark Warburton became QPR's eighth different manager in just over four years when he took charge in the summer of 2019.
After a successful non-league career with the likes of Enfield Town and Boreham Wood, Warburton got into coaching in the early 2000's, combining Academy roles with his job as a trader. He spent a number of years at Watford, before joining The Bees as a coach alongside Nicky Forster in February 2011. He became Sporting Director that summer before returning to coaching, this time as Head Coach in December 2013.
Six months later he led us to promotion as runners-up from Sky Bet League One and the following season oversaw a fifth-place finish in the second tier. Warburton moved to Rangers in the summer of 2015, spending two years north of the border. After winning both the Scottish Championship title and the Scottish Challenge Cup, he came back to England but lasted just nine months in charge of Nottingham Forest in 2017.
THOMAS' THOUGHTS
PRE-MATCH VIEWS
⚖ Matthew Donohue will be the man in charge tonight
🆚 Talksport's Tony Incenzo previews Rangers
LAST TIME OUT
HOW TO FOLLOW
Friday's game is live on Sky Sports as well as iFollow for Season Ticket and Premium Seat Members.
Audio Match Passes to listen live are available to buy for £2.50
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