Both aiming to bounce back from weekend defeats, Leeds United and Queens Park Rangers will do battle at Elland Road on Wednesday.
The hosts dropped to ninth spot in the Championship table due to a defeat away at Sunderland, ending their six-match unbeaten streak in the league, while their visitors now find themselves in the bottom three on the back of a four-match winless run.
Match preview
© Reuters
Leeds United head into their 10th Championship outing of the campaign on Wednesday on the back of a disappointing defeat, halting their momentum in their bid to win promotion back to the Premier League under the new management of Daniel Farke.
After enduring a slow start to life back in the second tier, the Whites did start to build momentum, kicking off an unbeaten run prior to the September international break and picking up where they left off on their return, beating Millwall 3-0 at The Den thanks to Joel Piroe's brace and a Georginio Rutter goal and collecting a creditable point from a goalless draw away at high-flying Yorkshire rivals Hull City.
Farke's men would then make it six games unbeaten in style with another 3-0 triumph, beating Watford at Elland Road as Piroe eventually opened the scoring in the 67th minute and Sam Byram and Jaidon Anthony added goals, taking them onto 13 points from eight games and within touching distance of the top six heading into a tough trip to fellow relegated Southampton on Saturday.
Their hosts headed into the contest on the back of four straight league defeats but quickly went ahead through Adam Armstrong inside two minutes, and things got worse for the Whites as they went into the interval 3-0 down as Armstrong again scored alongside Will Smallbone, with Pascal Struijk's 58th-minute goal not enough to trigger a comeback at St Mary's as Leeds left empty-handed.
Now with a quick turnaround, they will be keen to take the chance to quickly get back on track at Elland Road and make a return to winning ways with the aim of kickstarting another positive run of results on Wednesday.
© Reuters
They meet a Queens Park Rangers side who are aiming to bounce back from a 3-1 defeat of their own last time out in what has been a difficult start to the Championship campaign.
After eventually finishing just six points above the relegation zone last season, Queens Park Rangers again set out to maintain their second-tier status under the management of Gareth Ainsworth, and they headed into the international break with six points on the board from five games, courtesy of important away victories over Cardiff City and Middlesbrough.
The London outfit have been unable to add another notch to their wins column in four attempts since returning from the break, though, while only managing two more points, firstly suffering a 3-1 defeat at home to Sunderland before snatching a share of the spoils in injury time against Swansea City, as Lyndon Dykes levelled the scores at a goal apiece at Loftus Road in the 92nd minute.
Ainsworth's men then travelled to Birmingham City and took a point from a goalless stalemate, before most recently hosting Coventry City on Saturday and again coming away empty-handed, with Kenneth Paal's injury-time goal coming too late in an eventual 3-1 defeat after Ellis Simms had netted a brace for the visitors alongside a Josh Eccles goal.
Now finding themselves in the relegation places at this early stage of the season, QPR will look to take a major scalp at Elland Road on Wednesday with the aim of quickly improving their standing at the bottom end of the table and avoiding being cut adrift in the coming weeks.
Team News
© Reuters
Leeds United continue to deal with several injury concerns, as Junior Firpo, Djed Spence, Stuart Dallas and Willy Gnonto remain sidelined, although the list of absentees has become slightly shorter with the recent returns of attacker Patrick Bamford and captain and defender Liam Cooper.
The latter was deployed alongside Pascal Struijk in the middle of their back four away at Southampton on Saturday, although Joe Rodon is fighting to return from the outset after being an unused substitute, while Luke Ayling is also hoping to come back in in defence, as is Archie Gray in midfield after Glen Kamara was preferred alongside key man Ethan Ampadu last time out.
Bamford, meanwhile, may again have to settle for a substitute appearance, with Georginio Rutter and Joel Piroe bound to again start through the middle in attack in their 4-2-3-1 shape, while Crysencio Summerville and Daniel James will hope to again start on the wings amid competition from Jaidon Anthony and Ian Poveda.
Queens Park Rangers will remain without centre-back Jimmy Dunne due to an injury, while Morgan Fox is a new concern at the back, having been forced off in the Coventry defeat, and he is unlikely to feature on Wednesday.
In his absence, Jake Clarke-Salter should come in to join Steve Cook and Osman Kakay in a back three, with Paul Smyth and Kenneth Paal taking up wing-back roles on the right and left-hand sides respectively.
Lyndon Dykes has led the line since his return from injury, and he will hope to keep his place up front with Sinclair Armstrong also vying to come back in from the outset, after Ilias Chair and Chris Willock completed the front three at the weekend with Andre Dozzell having moved back into the engine room alongside Sam Field, and they will also face competition from Jack Colback, who will return to contention after a suspension.
Leeds United possible starting lineup:
Meslier; Shackleton, Struijk, Rodon, Byram; Kamara, Ampadu; James, Piroe, Summerville; Rutter
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Begovic; Kakay, Cook, Clarke-Salter; Smyth, Field, Colback, Paal; Armstrong, Dykes, Chair
We say: Leeds United 3-0 Queens Park Rangers
After a disappointing defeat at the weekend, Leeds United will be keen to bounce back quickly, and with home advantage at Elland Road and superior quality all over the pitch, they should have more than enough to take all three points in relatively comfortable fashion on Wednesday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
