With 18 points left to fight for in the fight at the bottom end of the Championship table, Sheffield Wednesday will travel south to take on Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on Saturday.
A dip in form has seen the visitors fall two points adrift of safety, while their hosts have moved six points clear of the bottom three with back-to-back wins.
Match preview
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Queens Park Rangers return to Loftus Road on Saturday with the aim of giving their Championship survival hopes a further boost, having moved away from the relegation zone thanks to a pleasing run of form in recent weeks.
Indeed, the London outfit have enjoyed a steady improvement since Marti Cifuentes's appointment in late October, having earned eight points from their first 13 games prior to his arrival and 38 points from 27 league outings under the Spaniard's tutelage to move out of the bottom three.
The Rs now find themselves in a particularly rich vein of form, having won seven and drawn four of their last 13 second-tier games since mid-January, most recently bouncing back in style on their return to action last weekend after somewhat of a dip prior to the international break, in which they went three games without a three-point haul.
In their first game back on Friday, Cifuentes's men hosted fellow survival-hopefuls Birmingham City and looked set to come away with a share of the spoils from a 1-1 draw, only to snatch all three points in dramatic fashion as Jimmy Dunne popped up with a 92nd-minute winner, before they most recently travelled to Swansea City on Monday and prevailed again in a 1-0 triumph, with Steve Cook netting his second goal in as many games to settle the contest.
Having now moved six points clear of the drop zone thanks to their pair of victories over the Easter weekend, with six league games left to play, QPR will now set out to make it three on the bounce to further extend their lead and all but cement their survival in the Championship.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip to the capital aiming to stage a similar climb out of the bottom three in the final run-in, in their bid to maintain their own second-tier status after winning promotion last season.
It has certainly been a tough return to the Championship for Sheffield Wednesday, who have sat in the bottom three for almost the entirety of the campaign and currently sit 23rd, having put 39 points on the board in their 40 outings thus far.
Similarly to their hosts, the Owls did experience an upturn in form under new management, having earned 35 points from their first 25 games after Danny Rohl's October appointment after a dismal start to the campaign, but they have since been unable to strengthen their bid for safety in recent weeks.
After moving within touching distance of jumping out of the drop zone with consecutive triumphs over Millwall, Bristol City, Rotherham United and Plymouth Argyle between late February and early March, the South Yorkshire outfit have collected just one more point from their last four attempts, firstly losing back-to-back games prior to the international break before being held to a 1-1 draw at home to Swansea City on their return on Friday.
Now most recently on the back of a trip to Middlesbrough, in which they suffered a 2-0 defeat with Michael Ihiekwe scoring an own goal and Isaiah Jones adding a second, Sheffield Wednesday find themselves two points adrift of safety with six games left to play and will be desperate to bounce back at the weekend and put a crucial victory on the board to strengthen their hopes of escaping the bottom three.
Team News
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Queens Park Rangers should come into Saturday's key contest with a clean bill of health, aside from the ongoing absences of Rayan Kolli and Taylor Richards, and Marti Cifuentes may opt to field the same starting XI from their away victory over Swansea on Monday.
There is plenty of competition for attacking spots in their 4-2-3-1 shape, though, with January signings Michael Frey and Lucas Andersen hoping to come in up front and in an advanced midfield role respectively, after Lyndon Dykes and Joe Hodge were preferred in South Wales, while Ilias Chair and Paul Smyth will also fight to defend their places amid competition from Sinclair Armstrong and Chris Willock.
Isaac Hayden replaced Jack Colback around the hour mark against Swansea and will compete to join Sam Field in the engine room from the outset, while Jimmy Dunne, Steve Cook, Jake Clarke-Salter and Morgan Fox are bound to line up in an unaltered back four, with Cook seeking to score in a third straight game.
Sheffield Wednesday continue to deal with several injury issues, as attacker Josh Windass remains confined to the treatment room alongside Callum Paterson, Kristian Pedersen and Juan Delgado, while key defender Di'Shon Bernard picked up an issue shortly before their meeting with Swansea and has missed the last two outings as a result.
Leeds United loanee Ian Poveda was fit enough to feature off the bench against Middlesbrough last time out, and he and Djeidi Gassama should return in an attacking capacity from the outset at the weekend, perhaps replacing Bailey Cadamarteri and Anthony Musaba in support of front man Ike Ugbo, who has netted six goals in 13 league appearances for the Owls since arriving on loan from Troyes.
Elsewhere, Will Vaulks should again get the nod to join captain Barry Bannan in the engine room, while Bambo Diaby, Michael Ihiekwe and Akin Famewo should form an unchanged back three with Bernard remaining sidelined.
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Begovic; Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Fox; Field, Hayden; Willock, Andersen, Chair; Frey
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Beadle; Diaby, Ihiekwe, Famewo; Valentin, Bannan, Vaulks, Johnson; Poveda, Ugbo, Gassama
We say: Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Queens Park Rangers have found their groove at a crucial time in the fight for survival, and we back them to make it three wins on the bounce against a Sheffield Wednesday who have lost a degree of momentum in recent weeks.
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Sam Varley
