Match preview

Queens Park Rangers' Osman Kakay in action with Preston North End's Tom Barkhuizen in the Championship on October 21, 2020 © Reuters

The R's have not won since the first game of the season and are starting to show signs of missing key players who have either been sold, or are absent through injury.

Eberechi Eze will undoubtedly be a big miss for QPR this season, but they have also lacked the presence of frontman Lyndon Dykes, who has now been absent for the last two matches.

QPR currently sit 16th in the table and will be concerned by the lack of creative spark in the final third, something they will be desperate to rectify as soon as possible.

They will take heart however from the fact that they have only lost once in the last five games against the Blues; a 4-3 loss at home.

Birmingham City manager Aitor Karanka pictured on October 4, 2020 © Reuters

Like QPR, City are also in search of their first win since the opening day of the season and have lost their last two 1-0.

An 87th-minute strike from Mario Vranic was enough to down the Blues, almost immediately after Adam Clayton was sent off for his second bookable offence.

After producing a relatively solid start to the season, Aitor Karanka's men have slipped to just six points from six games and will feel they need to use the busy upcoming schedule to get back to winning ways.

The Blues have shored up their defence, having conceded only four times in their first six matches – compared to 12 from their final half-dozen fixtures last season

Improved defensive displays have come hand-in-hand with something of a goal drought though, with Birmingham having only scored three in the first six games – two from corners and one from the penalty spot.

Queens Park Rangers Championship form: WLDDD
Queens Park Rangers form (all competitions): LWLDDD

Birmingham City Championship form: WDDDLL
Birmingham City form (all competitions): WDDDLL

Team News

Queens Park Rangers and Scotland forward Lyndon Dykes pictured in August 2020 © Reuters

Mark Warburton will hope to welcome back Lyndon Dykes, but may be forced to wait given the severity of his thigh injury.

Warburton also mentioned in post-match interviews that he felt his team lacked quality all over the pitch, and therefore could look to reshuffle his pack ahead of this match.

City will be without the suspended Adam Clayton and Karanka may look to use this setback as an opportunity to make an attacking adjustment to his starting lineup.

If not, Karanka will likely replace Clayton with recent signing Mikel San Jose

Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Kakay, Dickie, Barbet, Wallace; Amos, Cameron; Osayi-Samuel, Chair, Willock, Bonne

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Etheridge; Colin, Dean, Friend, Pedersen; Gardner, San Jose; Leko, McGree, Bela; Hogan

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We say: Queens Park Rangers 0-0 Birmingham City

Both sides have not been at their best of late, and we are anticipating a scrappy affair as these two battle it out for the points. As such, it may be that neither manages to break the deadlock, resulting in a 0-0 draw.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Queens Park Rangers win with a probability of 46.55%. A win for Birmingham City had a probability of 27.83% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.

The most likely scoreline for a Queens Park Rangers win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.23%) and 2-0 (8.31%). The likeliest Birmingham City win was 0-1 (8.05%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.18%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood.