In our Fulham vs QPR betting preview we look at the best possible bets between the two sides.
Two of the Championships out of form sides meet at Craven Cottage as Fulham host QPR. After a fast start to the season which saw The Cottagers go unbeaten for five games, things have tailed off slightly. Slavisa Jokanovic’s men are without a victory in five games and they’re starting to plummet down the table. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s QPR find themselves in a similar situation – they’re also without a win in five and they have one of the worst defences in the division. So a turnaround is needed and fast for each of these sides.
Fulham began the season with plenty of doom and gloom surrounding Craven Cottage following some big departures from the club. The likes of Ross McCormack and Mousa Dembele departed for Aston Villa and Celtic respectively and their absence was expected to hit the club hard. But the early signs for this season were extremely promising. Victories over Newcastle (1-0), Preston (2-1) and Blackburn (1-0) in the first month of the campaign saw Jokanovic’s men climb into the top two and there was even talk of a possible promotion bid. But since their late win over Blackburn Rovers at the back end of August things haven’t gone to plan for The Cottagers.
Defeats against Birmingham (1-0) and Bristol City (4-0) have seen them drop down to twelfth and after being one of the early season pacesetters they now find themselves eight points away from leaders Huddersfield. In midweek they showed some brief signs of a resurgence with a 1-1 draw away to free scoring Nottingham Forest but a huge improvement is needed in their performances soon. But there is plenty of quality in this side to turn around their fortunes – the likes of Tom Cairney, Kevin McDonald and Chris Martin all play a big role in this side and it they find form there’s no doubt the club will get results. Martin is yet to score for Fulham but he has an excellent strike rate in the Championship and we fancy him to open his account here (priced at 7/4).
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s QPR came into the new season with a new look squad after some of the clubs big earners departed the club. The club received some decent fees for the likes of Leroy Fer and Matt Phillips but the new arrivals at the club have found it tough to settle in so far. The R’s brought in the likes of Idrissa Sylla, Jordan Cousins and Jake Bidwell to Loftus Road and they’ve found it difficult to deal with the expectation levels in East London. The R’s were in the Premier League as recently as 2015 and the ultimate aim is to return there – but if the early season signs are anything to go by then the supporters may need to be patient with Hasselbaink’s new look side.
The R’s didn’t actually start the season too badly. The opened the new campaign with a big 3-0 victory over Garry Monk’s Leeds United side and then followed that up with victories on the road against Cardiff City (2-0) and Wigan Athletic (1-0) to end August with nine points from five games. But they’ve gone a run since which has seen them pick up just three points from five games and they come into match day eleven ten points away from the leaders Huddersfield and five from the play-offs. They’ve been held to back-to-back 1-1 draws in each of their last two outings against Burton and Birmingham and their struggles at the back have been on display for everyone to see. They’ve kept just two clean sheets all season and they went down to a 6-0 home defeat against Newcastle in mid-September. So Fulham will fancy their chances of scoring here.
Both of these sides come into this clash desperate for three points to kick start a campaign that’s in risk of going stale already. Fulham have the stronger squad out of the two sides but Slavisa Jokanovic’s side look like they’re lacking confidence. This game represents a good opportunity to get back to winning ways and they’ll feel a bit better going into this one after claiming a decent point away to Nottingham Forest in midweek. However, we can see this one ending in a draw (priced at 6/5) as there isn’t much to separate either of these sides. We’re also going for a correct score of 1-1 at a big 6/1, which would be The R’s third successive stalemate.
Head To Head
Fulham have had much the better of this rivalry in recent times. They've won the last 3 meetings and their last 5 home games against their West London neighbours.
Stats
Fulham won 5 of their 7 games before the first international break but are winless in 6 since. QPR have drawn 50% of their Championship away games in 2016.
