A massive fortnight in the history of QPR kicks off tomorrow with a visit to promotion chasing Cardiff City.
As a serial loather of all things Manchester United there can be few people who aren’t actually involved with the clubs at the top of the Premiership keener than me to see Arsenal, Chelsea or indeed anybody else suddenly go on a dramatic surge and snatch the title from their grasp. But even my patience is being tested by the monotonous pattern that has developed at the top of our top flight these past few weeks, a top flight that both QPR and Cardiff hope to be a part of next season.
The week begins with Sky Sports presenters saying that Arsenal can still overhaul Man Utd, because they have a game in hand and still have to play United at the Emirates while Chelsea aren’t out of the hunt yet you know, no way, not by a long chalk. They do however concede that both Arsenal and Chelsea cannot afford defeat in their next games which, wouldn’t you just know, are live on Sky Sports. Then, when Arsenal spend yet another 90 minutes passing the ball beautifully between themselves but never once actually having a shot on the goal and Chelsea spend another 90 minutes trying to cajole Fernando Torres into looking like a footballer without success it’s all over isn’t it Ray, surely? Well yes it is, they’ve blown it.
Until, a day later, it occurs to the producers at Sky that they still have Arsenal and Chelsea games to show, and they could still do it you know, it is still possible. But they really have to win this next game, live on Sky Sports, otherwise that’s definitely it once and for all. And so it continues, and has been continuing for weeks and weeks and weeks.
It’s not in the interests of the media, broadcast and print, to admit that anything is over until it absolutely is because then people would lose interest, and people have to be interested otherwise they won’t buy sports papers or watch sports channels. As the coverage has increased so has the hyperbole, and now never a week goes by without the now well worn phrase “most important week in the club’s history” getting an airing. I cannot recall a time when I’ve heard or read that phrase and not thought – “no it’s not.” Even when Arsenal had a fortnight that included a League Cup final, FA Cup game at Man Utd, Champions League game with Barcelona and home matches against Stoke and Sunderland in the league was it the most important in their history? No, of course not.
And while I would probably maintain that the two weeks we now face at QPR are not the most important in our history, I would concede that they’re probably not far off. Four games from which one win is required to return us to the Premiership for the first time in 15 years, and an FA disciplinary hearing thrown in there that could then take it all away from us. It never has been dull following, and writing about, QPR but this fortnight coming up now is unprecedented in my time as a supporter. To add spice it starts this Saturday at Cardiff City – a promotion rival, and team that beat us in a play off final in this city almost eight years ago.
A house move from the north of the country to north London (you started the M1 fire a day too late I’m afraid, I’m here now) means LoftforWords has been operating something of a skeleton coverage in recent weeks – essentially match previews and match reports and not a lot else. But rest assured over the coming two weeks the site will be back up to full strength and covering every second of the drama set to unfold both on the pitch and in the halls and backrooms of Wembley Stadium. So stick with us, and we’ll try and get through it all together as best we can.
It’s testament to the form of both clubs that one or two QPR fans are just starting to twitch a little at the thought of one more win being required from their team – it remains an unlikely scenario that sees QPR miss out altogether, essentially we have to pick up nothing more than two draws from our final four games while Cardiff, Norwich and/or Reading have to win at least three and probably all four of their remaining games. The problem is QPR seem to be stumbling a little while Reading have won their last eight, Cardiff their last four scoring 12 goals in the process, and Norwich six of their last ten including last night’s 5-1 thumping of local rivals Ipswich. Isn’t this just all so typically QPR?
What it’s not is typically Cardiff. Normally by the Easter weekend City are in midst of their annual end of season meltdown. In recent times they’ve suffered some of the most unlikely and unbelievable collapses in form at this time of year and have become known as the division’s chokers.
In 2008/09 with four games remaining they sat fourth in the table, four points behind the second automatic promotion spot that was at that point held by Birmingham City. They won three consecutive games at the beginning of April against Burnley, Derby and Palace, scoring an average of three goals a game in the process – remarkably similar to their form this April. But then suddenly they went and lost 6-0 at midtable Preston North End with the final goal coming just four minutes from time. Over the next fortnight it became clear just how crucial that defeat, and particularly that sixth goal, would be. Buoyed by the freak result Preston set off up the table while Cardiff were racked with self doubt. A 3-0 home defeat against a poor Ipswich side that had just sacked Jim Magilton followed and a 2-2 draw at Charlton before a final day defeat against a mediocre, twelfth placed Sheffield Wednesday team with nothing to play for. Preston meanwhile beat QPR 2-1 in their last match to snatch the final play off spot at Cardiff’s expense by the slim margin of, that’s right, one goal. Had Cardiff lost 5-0 at Deepdale they’d have still made it.
Last year they did make it, qualifying successfully for a play off semi final against in form Leicester where they appeared to have done the hard part by winning the away leg first only to then lose 3-2 at home. That forced a penalty shoot out which they may well have lost had the Foxes’ Yann Kermorgant not decided a play off semi final was an appropriate time to try and elaborate chipped penalty that David Marshall saved with ease. Having come through that scare they were hot favourites to win the play off final against unfancied Blackpool but despite leading the game twice went on to lose.
These aren’t isolated incidents either. One of the most memorable QPR moments in recent history was Ray Jones’ last minute winner at the old Ninian Park ground live on Sky in the 2006/07 season. At that time Cardiff had won 11 and drawn three of their opening 17 matches to top the table by six clear points and a hefty goal difference from Preston and Birmingham. The QPR victory sparked a run of 13 matches without a win dropping them down to eighth and although they subsequently climbed back to fifth with a run of six wins in nine games through February and March they didn’t win any of their last nine games and missed out altogether. And so it continues – in 2005/06 they were two points shy of the play off places at the end of March but lost five and drew two of their last seven to miss out.
So to see them actually stringing results together like this in an end of season run in is slightly unsettling, it’s like the natural order of things has been disturbed. QPR are unlucky, Leeds are the scum of the earth, all Man Utd fans come from Torquay, nobody supported Chelsea before 1998 and Cardiff always choke at the end of the season. It’s just the way it is. There’s still time, the 2008/09 collapse started four games from the end of the season with the Preston defeat, but it’s not looking likely at the moment.
To be honest though, in my opinion, Cardiff have underachieved this season whatever happens. Their financial situation suggests that they should be struggling to stay in business never mind competing to go into the Premiership. You wouldn’t wish Sam Hamman and then Peter Ridsdale on your worst enemy, although to be fair that’s what Cardiff are for a lot of the younger QPR fans and they’ve probably quite enjoyed that pair’s various attempts to bankrupt them. The only thing Cardiff have done more than fall at the final fence in recent seasons is stave off winding up orders, even getting the PFA to pay their players wages for a month during Hamman’s reign when Lennie Lawrence was in charge to dodge administration and a ten point penalty that would have relegated them. Quite why Cardiff are constantly allowed to extend winding up orders and weasel out of paying their debts, racking up ever more outlandish spending with each passing day, when HMRC are not nearly so considerate with the likes of Plymouth remains a mystery.
I’ve heard that argument, and I’ve heard about the small squad Dave Jones has had to work with this season, and the transfer embargo Dave Jones had to work around in the summer, and the small resources Dave Jones has had at his disposal when compared to other clubs at the top of the Championship. I’ve heard all of that time, and time, and time again throughout the season because as Cardiff have got better so Jones has grown increasingly more bitter and miserable to the point where I’ve found myself shouting at my television: “just fuck off then if life is really that bloody awful” but still he keeps on moaning.
Whatever he may say as he mumbles and grumbles his way through interviews Dave Jones knows, deep down, that a team with the players Cardiff have got should have walked away with this league this season. It should be all over now. Nobody in the Championship can call on firepower like Cardiff can – Jay Bothroyd, Michael Chopra and Craig Bellamy is about as good as it gets for this level and Jones has also been allowed to bring in Jon Parkin from Preston and Andy Keogh who was a key figure in Wolves’ promotion from this league the season before last – Jones actually had no use for either as it turned out, odd signings both. Add into that a midfield with the outstanding Peter Whittingham, underrated (outside Wales) Chris Burke, ball busting Seyi Olofinjana, Arsenal starlet Jay Emmanuel Thomas, captain of Wales Aaron Ramsey and so on. Nobody has been able to rape the loan market quite as enthusiastically as Jones this season – bringing in, in the case of Ramsey and Bellamy, proven Premiership players for his Championship team.
Promotion remains there for the taking, and Cardiff have the players to do it with ease. But even if they do avoid their annual choke and take their place at the top table for the first time since 1962 next season nobody, not Dave Jones or anybody else, will be able to convince me they shouldn’t have done a whole lot better this season.
The Manager: Dave Jones seems to be adopting the Steve Coppell technique of getting steadily more and more miserable as his team gets steadily better and better on the pitch. I mean he’s never been the most cheerful chap in the world, but his demeanour during interviews this year has been horrendous and when he was invited in as the studio guest for our game at Bristol City earlier in the season I actually though he was an embarrassment to himself and his club – he could hardly be bothered to hold his microphone up and it was worth staying tuned to the bitter end just to see whether he’d try and hang himself with it, or beat the ever cheerful Clarke Carlisle to death with the fuzzy end. In the end he mumbled something about QPR being a bit lucky and sloped off into the night to find somebody else to talk to about how hard done to he is.
Miserable bastard or not, I’ve always thought of him as a decent manager. A player with Everton, Coventry and Preston back in the day Jones came to national attention as a gaffer with Stockport County when they were riding high in this division and regularly upsetting bigger sides in the cup competitions. Sheff Utd, Blackburn, Southampton and West Ham (with a famous Iain Dowie own goal) were all vanquished by Jones’ Stockport side that included Brett Angell, Jim Gannon, Alun Armstrong, Chris Marsden and goalkeeper Paul Jones.
The latter pair followed Jones to The Dell when he was given a chance to manage in the Premiership at Southampton. Although Jones successfully kept Southampton in the Premiership for two seasons, which is as much as anybody was able to do with them at that time, his third term was interrupted by the infamous false allegations about alleged child abuse at homes on Merseyside where he worked in the 1980s. The case was thrown out by the judge who lambasted the CPS for ever bringing it to court, but Southampton used it as an excuse to usher him aside anyway. Jones was never really very popular with Saints’ fans and Glenn Hoddle did a fine job as his stand in while he defended the case so the outcome was inevitable and a claim for unfair dismissal was later thrown out.
With a reputation to rebuild Jones succeeded where Colin Lee, Graham Taylor, Mark McGhee, John Ward and Graham Turner had all failed in getting Wolves promoted to the Premiership. They only managed to stay there for a season, despite a memorable home win against Man Utd, and when bitter rivals West Brom pipped them to promotion back at the first time of asking his time there started to fall away. Interestingly it was Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United side that Wolves beat in the play off final to win the promotion in the first place – Wolves were 3-0 up at half time in the Cardiff final.
Jones arrived at Cardiff in 2005 taking over a team that had become stale under his long serving predecessor Lennie Lawrence. He has developed a wonderful knack of buying talent cheaply and selling it on for huge profit in South Wales while still maintaining consistent promotion pushes during his time there – albeit promotion pushes that seem to crumble from the spring onwards. He has also unearthed some tremendous strikers for the club with Cameron Jerome, Michael Chopra, Ross McCormack and Jay Bothroyd all shaking off failures elsewhere to succeed in his team. When you consider the money Cardiff fetched in for those four, and others, it makes it all the more difficult to understand how they’ve worked themselves into such a financial pit of despair.
After so many near misses could this be Jones’, and Cardiff’s, year again at last? The fear is, if it isn’t, can the club’s finances stand up to another season of Championship football, and can they continue to dodge the tax man and other creditors if they don’t? And will Jones be around to see it? If they fail to win promotion this time I personally don’t think so.
Three to Watch: At the start of this campaign all eyes and cameras were firmly trained on Craig Bellamy who was expected to smash the Championship into a million pieces. Having played so well for Manchester City in the Premiership last season it seemed ludicrous that he should end up in this division, a move that came about when City excluded him from their 25 man squad but refused to let him join Premiership rivals Spurs and instead paid the majority of his £80,000 a week pay packet while he went and played in the division below. He hammered in a free kick from 30 yards against Doncaster in his first week at the club – it almost seemed unfair on the rest of the division, like an amateur golfer turning up for a Friday afternoon foursome with Ernie Els as his playing partner.
But Bellamy has actually flattered to deceive for much of the season and by the midway point of the campaign it was actually his striking partner Jay Bothroyd attracting all the headlines. Now Bellamy has found himself moved around between Norwich, Coventry, Newcastle, West Ham, Celtic, Blackburn, Liverpool, Man City and now Cardiff essentially because, despite being very talented, he’s clearly a flawed human being incapable of getting on with other people for even a short amount of time. Bothroyd has clocked up a similar amount of clubs, having started at Arsenal as a junior he was bumped off to Coventry for £1m after falling out with youth coach Don Howe and then went on to Perugia, Blackburn, Charlton, Wolves and Stoke before finally Cardiff. His problem, apart from at Arsenal, has always been ability rather than attitude. His temper has come to the boil on several occasions since the incident with Howe where he threw his Arsenal shirt at the well respected coach after being substituted, his wild hack at Norwich’s Mattias Jonsson at Carrow Road and subsequent red card will go down in infamy, but mainly he’s been moved on because he was never quite good enough.
That all seemed to change this year because while everybody was watching Bellamy Bothroyd scored an incredible 15 goals in the first 16 games of this season. He was on fire, although the decision by Fabio Capello to call him up to the England squad for a friendly game with France, his first cap at the age of 28, was ridiculous and, as he’s never been included in a squad since, pointless. It didn’t seem to do him many favours either – since turning out for his country Bothroyd has scored just four times in 19 appearances for Cardiff and although he did notch last time out against Portsmouth it’s hard to shake the feeling that he’s little more than a half season wonder.
Bellamy on the other hand seems to have got better as the season has gone on. He’d only scored twice in ten appearances when Cardiff arrived at Loftus Road in November but a goal in that game, gifted to him by Kaspars Gorkss, sparked a run of six goals in ten games and although he’s dried up a bit since he scored at Sheffield United last week and his performances are said to be top notch at the moment. He will cut in from the left flank, ostensibly playing against Bradley Orr, and given the QPR back four’s overall lack of pace he must be a concern to Neil Warnock.
Cardiff’s main problem right from the start of the season has been at the heart of their defence. Mark Hudson and Gabor Gyepes never looked like a pair of centre halves capable of carrying a team to promotion – both of them far too slow and clumsy – and despite the presence of Seyi Olofinjana the back four has regularly been left exposed by its midfield. Usually Dave Jones would correct this with a Premiership loan but he actually made a permanent signing in January, bringing in Israel international Dekel Keinan just six months after he arrived at Blackpool from Maccabi Haifa. Not being able to oust Ian Evatt from that Blackpool defence doesn’t exactly bode well for the lad but he’s been getting good write ups in South Wales so may be worth a closer inspection.
Links >>> Official Website >>> Message Board >>> Travel Guide
QPR: Kenny 8, Walker 7, Gorkss 6, Connolly 6, Hill 6, Derry 7, Faurlin 7, Mackie 7 (Agyemang 90, -), Taarabt 8 (Clarke 87, -), Smith 7 (Hall 90, -), Hulse 8
Subs Not Used: Cerny, Orr, Helguson, Ephraim
Booked: Hill (foul), Clarke (foul)
Goals: Gorkss 18 (assisted Smith), Taarabt 68 (assisted Derry/Smith)
Cardiff: Heaton 7, McNaughton 7, Hudson 5, Blake 6, Naylor 6, Drinkwater 7 (Koumas 57, 5), Whittingham 6, Olofinjana 7, Burke 7 (Chopra 80, -), Bellamy 8, Bothroyd 8
Subs Not Used: Marshall, Gyepes, McPhail, Keogh, Matthews
Booked: Koumas (foul), Whittingham (foul), Bellamy (dissent)
Goals: Bellamy 13 (assisted Bothroyd)
QPR’s excellent run of form that carried them to fourth in the table by the start of November last season began with a 2-0 win at Cardiff City in September. On their first visit to the new Cardiff City Stadium Rangers were absolutely excellent, with Ben Watson and Martin Rowlands pulling the strings at the heart of midfield and Wayne Routledge and Jay Simpson running amok in attack. The R’s were two goals up before half time as Simpson buried his first for the club from a suspiciously offside position then took advantage of a surging Routledge run to receive the ball in space and drill it home. Buzsaky struck the Cardiff post and Vine curled a chance fractionally wide in the second half as Rangers dominated from start to finish.
Cardiff: Marshall 5, Kennedy 5, Hudson 5, Gerrard 5, Quinn 5,Whittingham 6 (Magennis 54, 6), Burke 7, Ledley 4, Taiwo 6 (Rae 54, 5),Bothroyd 5 (Scimeca 67, 5), Chopra 5
Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Gyepes, Capaldi, Comminges
Booked: Quinn (foul), Chopra (foul)
QPR: Cerny 7, Leigertwood 7, Stewart 7, Gorkss 7, Borrowdale 7,Routledge 7, Rowlands 9, Watson 8, Buzsaky 7, Simpson 8 (Pellicori 77, 6),Vine 6 (Agyemang 82, 6)
Subs Not Used: Heaton, Ramage, Mahon, Faurlin, Ephraim
Booked: Stewart (foul), Pellicori (handball)
Goals: Simpson 19 (assisted Vine), 40 (assisted Routledge)
Head to Head >>> Cardiff wins 25 >>> Draws 11 >>> QPR wins 32
Previous Results:
2009/10 QPR 0 Cardiff 1
2009/10 Cardiff 0 QPR 2 (Simpson 2)
2008/09 Cardiff 0 QPR 0
2008/09 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Mahon)
2007/08 Cardiff 3 QPR 1 (Agyemang)
2007/08 QPR 0 Cardiff 2
2006/07 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Blackstock)
2006/07 Cardiff 0 QPR 1 (Jones)
2005/06 Cardiff 0 QPR 0
2005/06 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Nygaard)
2004/05 Cardiff 1 QPR 0
2004/05 QPR 1 Cardiff 0 (Shittu)
2002/03 Cardiff 1 QPR 0 (Play Off Final)
2002/03 Cardiff 1 QPR 2 (Furlong, Langley)
2002/03 QPR 0 Cardiff 4
2001/02 Cardiff 1 QPR 1 (Pacquette)
2001/02 QPR 2 Cardiff 1 (Thomson 2)
1999/00 QPR 1 Cardiff 2** (Peacock)
1999/00 Cardiff 1 QPR 2** (Langley, Fowler og)
1989/90 QPR 2 Cardiff 0* (Wilkins, Wegerle)
1989/90 Cardiff 0 QPR 0*
1988/89 Cardiff 1 QPR 4** (Falco 2, Maddix, Stein)
1988/89 QPR 3 Cardiff 0** (Francis, Fereday, Allen)
1981/82 Cardiff 1 QPR 2 (Allen, Mickelwhite)
1981/82 QPR 2 Cardiff 0 (Stainrod)
1980/81 QPR 2 Cardiff 0 (Fenwick, Langley)
1980/81 Cardiff 1 QPR 0
** - League Cup
* - FA Cup
Played for both >>> Richard Langley
QPR 1996-2003, 2006-2006 >>> Cardiff 2003-2005
I often think with players that come through a club’s youth system that managers are too reluctant to give them a chance, while supporters are too willing to forgive their failings. How, for example, did Roy Hodgson persist with Christian Poulson for so long at Liverpool this season while young Jay Spearing was kicking his heels in the reserves? But by the same token, would Liverpool fans be raving about John Flanagan’s start to life in the first team if his first name was Igor?
Few players better sum up the vagaries of the issue than Richard Langley. Viewed by many QPR fans as a superb midfield ball player capable of scoring world class goals and producing killer passes, but somebody whose career never progressed as it threatened to do at first and who hardly won many friends with his performances for Cardiff and Luton. Admittedly Langley has had to overcome two horrendous knee injuries in his time that have undoubtedly held back his progress.
Part of the youth system at Rangers, Langley made his first team debut for QPR as a sub during a 3-1 defeat to Swindon in October 1998, at only 18 years old. A month later Langley got his first goal for the club in only his second appearance, opening the scoring in a 2-1 win over Barnsley at Loftus Road. Manager Gerry Francis has since said he had tried to get the groundsman to deliberately waterlog the Loftus Road pitch that night to try and get the game off such was his shortage of options but a lack of established first team players gave Langley his chance and he grabbed it with both hands. Langley looked like a great prospect and under Francis and formed an eye catching partnership the following campaign with Gavin Peacock and Stuart Wardley in the centre of the park, in a season where he only missed two league games for the Super Hoops.
Unfortunately the following season was a disappointing one for both Langley and Rangers as the team was relegated to the third tier for the first time since the seventies. Langley missed the second half of that campaign and the start of the new season after suffering a serious knee injury in a home match against Fulham. While undoubtedly a tragedy for the player, and his team mate and close friend Clarke Carlisle who remarkably suffered the same injury in the same match, it actually did Rangers a favour as the club descended into administration, released the majority of the squad and sold anybody worth selling that summer. Undoubtedly had they been fit Langley and Carlisle would both have been flogged. When they returned to the team Ian Holloway was in charge but he still saw the midfielder as a key part of his Rangers side.
The 2002-03 season was arguably Langley’s best in a QPR shirt. Playing on the right-wing he helped Rangers finish in the top six and make the play-offs, scoring a hat trick in a memorable 3-1 win at Blackpool towards the end of the season. His goal in the semi-final first leg against Oldham vital in seeing Rangers make the final, but a sending off, and another red card earlier in the season in an LDV Vans game with Bristol City, in the same game meant that a gutted Langley would miss the final which the R’s went on to lose 1-0 to Cardiff.
That summer there was plenty of speculation about his future in W12 and although he started the 2003/04 season for Rangers, scoring in the first two games against Blackpool and Cheltenham, the club then accepted an offer just shy of a quarter of a million pounds from Cardiff who had been promoted in our stead. He spent two uneventful seasons in Wales where the fans never really warmed to him and won caps for Jamaica before returning to Rangers, now back in the Championship, on deadline day 2005, signing a one-year deal. He played 33 times that season and Rangers finished in the top half but was released that summer and joined Luton Town.
His career has curtailed somewhat since then with further horrific knee injuries all but retiring him early. His time at Bristol Rovers was cut short and a subsequent move to Mansfield fell through. Played briefly in Thailand but can now be found summarising QPR games for local radio among other things. Has been linked with a move to SPL side Aberdeen this summer following a trial.
Links >>> QPR 2 Cardiff 1 Match Report >>> QPR 0 Cardiff 1 Match Report >>> Cardiff 0 QPR 2 Match Report >>> Connections and Memories
Cardiff have goalkeeper Tom Heaton back in contention after his groin injury, and Jay Bothroyd is also fit to play after shaking off the groin problem he picked up against Sheffield United.
Elsewhere: Every team in the Championship plays twice this weekend with games spaced out across five days. Norwich got things underway last night with a 5-1 win at Ipswich, although why that was played on a Thursday night when it wasn’t on television is a bit of a mystery. There are four games today at three different kick off times. The focus is on the bottom of the table initially with Scunthorpe going to Coventry and Palace to Doncaster at 3pm – Sheffield United can be relegated this weekend if Palace win and they don’t. Later, at 5.15pm Forest face Leicester and then tonight it’s Leeds v Reading in the race for promotion. QPR start things off tomorrow, and the afternoon concludes with a 5.20pm kick off between Millwall and Preston. In between there are five games with Swansea’s trip to Portsmouth and Sheffield United’s home game with Bristol City the most important. A full round up of what’s happened so far and a summary of the Monday programme will be in our Hull City preview on Sunday.
Referee: Premiership referee Lee Mason is in charge of this game, the second time he has taken a QPR fixture this season after the 1-1 draw at Bristol City before Christmas. Mason was in charge for one of our most memorable recent matches, a 1-0 cup win at Aston Villa, but he’s not a referee that tends to score very highly on LoftforWords and is not in good form at the moment having made a right mess of the Blackpool v Arsenal match last weekend. Click here for his full case file.
QPR The records continue to tumble at Loftus Road with Paddy Kenny’s outstanding save from Stephen Pearson on Monday night preserving a club record twenty fourth clean sheet of the season. The divisional record, held by Paulo Sousa’s Swansea, is also 24 so Kenny needs only one more shut out to beat it. Despite a recent dip in performance level QPR have kept clean sheets in three of their last four games, and have lost just two of their last 17 matches. Rangers are also hunting a tenth double of the season having racked up their ninth in the 1-0 win at Barnsley last week – that was the sixth double to nil as well, although that prospect is not available in this match. Away from home this season QPR have conceded just 15 times, Ipswich are bizarrely the next best with 23, and they have suffered just four defeats on the road this season – only Hull and Norwich can match that.
Prediction Usually at this stage of the season teams start to feel the pressure and drop silly points, but this year it seems that the sight of the finishing line is galvanising teams. With Norwich and Reading facing away matches at Ipswich and Leeds before we even kick off I dare say many QPR and Cardiff fans were assuming some points would be dropped by our nearest rivals, but Norwich’s 5-1 win at Portman Road has cranked the pressure up another notch and if Reading make it nine straight league wins at Leeds tonight tomorrow will be a real test of nerve. Cardiff’s need is the greater, QPR need only one more win for promotion and have four games in which to achieve it. There will be a fervent atmosphere but that can often work against Cardiff, with this home crowd notorious for quickly turning against their own side if things don’t go well immediately. Had Norwich have lost last night then my usual rule about draws (if it suits both teams that’s usually how it ends up) would have applied and I’d have gone for a 0-0, but the Canaries’ thumping win means Cardiff will have to go for the jugular themselves which in turn could leave their defence, the main weakness of their team, exposed to QPR’s lively attack. Therefore I think this will be an absolute cliff-hanger, with both teams flying at each other from the off.
2-2, 16/1 with Sky Bet