Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough has revealed that he expects a "close" encounter when they welcome Queens Park Rangers to the Pirelli on Tuesday night.

The Brewers are winless in four games, with defeats in the last two, heading into the game and find themselves 18th in the Championship table with nine points from their first nine fixtures.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's visitors, meanwhile, are also winless in four as part of a streak that saw them humiliated 6-0 by Newcastle United at Loftus Road.

Clough admits that he is looking forward to the encounter, which marks Hasselbaink's return to the side he left for the Hoops last December.

"I think it will be a close game, both teams are struggling to find a bit of form," Clough told the Burton website.

"It'll probably be a tense game. With Jimmy coming back having played a huge part in our success in the last 18 months or so with all that added into the mix it should make it a good game. You want to win but you don't want to lose when you are in a tough spell of form.

"We need to get some points on the board ahead of the international break, we knew this would be the toughest batch of fixtures. We need to go into the next break in good heart, we don't want to lose three on the spin neither. With two home games, if we take four or six points we will be happy."

After the visit of QPR, Clough's charges then welcome struggling Cardiff City to the Pirelli on Saturday.