QPR return to action at Loftus Road with the visit of play off chasing Burnley on Saturday.
Npower Championship >>> Saturday, November 30, 2010 >>> Kick Off 3pm >>> Loftus Road, London, W12
Don’t ever let anybody convince you that the manager isn’t the most important person at a football club. You can have all the money you want in the boardroom, and all the talent you like out on the pitch, but without the right manager to harness it, bring it together and utilise it in the best way it’s all virtually worthless.
On Saturday two clubs who can vouch for that more than most meet at Loftus Road. When Flavio Briatore, Bernie Ecclestone and Lakshmi Mittal swaggered onto the QPR scene just over three years ago I think we all believed the sky was the limit. Akos Buzsaky, Matt Connolly and Radek Cerny quickly arrived among others showing a willingness to buy the best proven and up and coming talent for our level.
The problem was the manager, or rather managers, and Flavio Briatore’s attitude towards them. A series of flawed appointments were made and then quickly dispensed without being given adequate time to prove themselves – Luigi De Canio couldn’t speak English, Iain Dowie’s brand of football was unattractive, Paulo Sousa was negative and inexperienced, Jim Magilton was an absolute nutter, Paul Hart is a former head boy at the Bryan Robson School of Managerial Catastrophe and Mick Harford was out of his depth. Each one was presented with signings made by a Sporting Director whose only previous experience in the game was as an agent, or loans from Flavio’s friends in Europe.
In theory QPR had enough money sloshing around to walk away with the Championship, and have had enough talented players at the club to have mounted a challenge for the top six by now but it’s never happened. It’s only now Briatore has been ushered aside and a man with vast experience and a host of promotions has been appointed as manager and left to get on with it that potential is starting to be fulfilled.
Burnley found their version of Warnock when they appointed Owen Coyle in 2007. Suddenly from a club that always looked to have a competitive starting eleven, but had no kind of squad depth and therefore troughed in form during the winter months, Burnley were promotion candidates. More than candidates, they made it, as we will examine shortly in the ‘recent history’ section. Coyle was the key to it all and with home wins against Man Utd and Everton among others they seemed to be making a decent fist of staying in the top flight despite awful away form last season. An approach from Celtic was rebuffed, only for Coyle to then join Bolton.
Burnley then had a choice. They could have done the right thing and walked over broken glass in bare feet to Doncaster with a blank cheque for Sean O’Driscoll. Or, and unbelievably this is what did happen, come up with some bizarre formula that measured the performance of teams in the Championship against the money they have spent on players and decide, against all logic, that Brian Laws (cheap and available after a recent sacking) was the man for the job.
Burnley are now a Championship team again. Like I say, don’t let anybody ever tell you that the manager is not important.
Recent History: Burnley, the place and the team, is an example of just how quickly boom and bust can take hold in Britain.
It’s a one club town, nestling almost apologetically in amongst the Pennine Hills and appearing through a seemingly permanent overhanging smog of cloud and mist as you drive over the often snow covered peak tops. Once upon a time that smog would have been smoke and steam from the busy mills that churned out cotton during the industrial revolution – now it’s just as likely to be the product of burning cars as the indigenous locals and new arrivals clash for supremacy and territory. It’s one of those northern towns that has a busy bingo hall and a ridiculously large Tesco and if you don’t work in either of those chances are you don’t work. An honest town left to rot and decline with even the modern call centres and tyre factories withdrawing in recent times.
One of its most famous exports, that didn’t come out of a mill or a mine, was England international winger Dave Thomas who swashbuckled up and down the touchline with his socks rolled down in the great QPR sides of the 1970s before going on to play for Everton. In 2001 another star in the making almost went the other way, but a young Peter Crouch chose Portsmouth instead of the Clarets when, as revealed in Stan Ternant’s autobiography, the town erupted into race riots on the day he was due to travel and discuss terms.
Like the town the football team declined from top flight mainstays to bottom of the barrel scrapings through the 1980s and 1990s. An ill-fated spell with Chris Waddle as manager in the 1990s and a frightening scrape with relegation out of the league altogether in 1987, when Burnley had to win their final game against Orient and hope that Lincoln lost (which they did) to stay up, took some recovering from.
Jimmy Mullen was the manager who initially started the recovery with two promotions, though much of his hard work was then undone by Waddle, and it needed Stan Ternant to come in and really grasp the nettle at Turf Moor. Ternant, with Ian Wright briefly featuring in attack, brought Burnley back into the First Division in 2000 and from then through the reign of Steve Cotterill to 2007 seasons followed a familiar pattern. Burnley always looked to have a good starting eleven on paper with everybody fit – and certainly weren’t afraid to throw a bit of money at players like Andy Gray and Ade Akinbiyi. But the squad was always very thin and long winless runs, 18 matches was the worst in 2006/07, always resulted when fixtures and injuries piled up during the winters.
Step forward Owen Coyle. A journeyman striker in his playing days Coyle cut his managerial teeth at St Johnston before being called to replace Cotterill at Turf Moor. The Burnley side he built was one of the best I have seen at Loftus Road in recent years with players like Martin Paterson and Chris Eagles to the fore and when they won the play off final against Kevin Blackwell’s hoof and hope Sheffield United side it was a victory for football – style winning out of brute force and Chris Morgan.
Burnley then did a bit of a Norwich. When the Canaries were promoted into the Premiership they made a very decent fist of things in their home games, beating Man Utd and Newcastle among others, but were relegated at the end of the season when a 6-0 defeat at Fulham drew to a close a campaign without a single away win. Burnley also beat Man Utd, and Everton and Birmingham and Sunderland and they looked to stand a fighting chance. But an instance on attacking and playing their football in the away games left them open to routine spankings.
When Coyle left to join his former club Bolton the home wins dried up as well and they were relegated with barely a whimper. National attention, previously focussed on the terraced rooftops and old cotton mills of Burnley, has now switched to the tacky seaside resort of Blackpool – the latest unlikely underdog to profit from the Championship play offs and Burnley is forgotten once again.
Parachute payments will help, but it may well take another Owen Coyle like managerial appointment to get them into the top flight again. I would suggest if they don’t manage it this season it’s unlikely to happen again this generation.
Manager: Brian Laws is, perhaps a little harshly, viewed as something of a joke by supporters of clubs other than his own. Sighs of relief could be heard all round the country when Burnley took the plunge and appointed their former player as manager earlier this year as people rested safe in the knowledge that he was no longer available for their club to appoint.
This could be seen as a slightly unfair because he did, after all, manage the greatest Grimsby Town side of the last 50 years, promote lowly Scunthorpe from the bottom division twice while manager there and get Sheffield Wednesday as close to a return to the Premiership as anybody else has managed since they left it.
However for every positive on his CV there is always a negative, or at least a qualification of that positive. For instance having got unfashionable Grimsby flying towards the First Division play offs and knocking out the likes of West Ham in the cup with a team that included Clive Mendonca in its attack Laws then hit the self destruct button by fracturing the cheekbone of Ivano Bonneti, who had somehow wound up in Cleethorpes having been previously more at home in the black and white stripes of Juventus, in a dressing room altercation following a 3-2 defeat at Luton where Town had led 2-0. Bonneti was popular with fans and players and Grimsby rather fell apart at the seems after that and were relegated 18 months later.
Laws did indeed get Scunthorpe promoted for the first time in 1999, winning the play off final against Leyton Orient at the old Wembley, but they were immediately relegated when strikers Jamie Forrester and John Eyre who had fired the promotion charge left in the summer and were not replaced (Ian Ormondroyd was Laws’ initial attempt) properly until the following deadline day when Steve Torpe and Brian Quailey arrived to no effect.
In 2003/04 Laws was sacked and then reinstated as boardroom wrangles hung over a campaign that almost saw them relegated to the Conference. They were promoted, and stayed in League One, a year later with Laws developing a knack of picking up prolific goal scorers at bargain prices. Paul Hayes and then Billy Sharp caught the eye in North Lincolnshire. By the time Scunthorpe were promoted into the Championship for the first time in 2006/07 Laws had attracted interest from Sheff Wed and left and it was actually Nigel Adkins, previously the physio, who took the team on to the League One title and actually improved it after Laws had left.
Although he then took Sheffield Wednesday on a magnificent run of one defeat in 13 matches it started about a fortnight too late and they narrowly missed the play offs. After that he and they struggled. Laws wasted money in the transfer market on the likes of Leon Clarke and Francis Jeffers and just didn’t seem able to push Wednesday beyond the lower reaches of mid table. Their disastrous season last term which resulted in his sacking means that, as he took over at Burnley bought a load of tat and won only two of the last 14 matches, he managed to relegate two teams last season and win just seven matches in the entire campaign.
Three to watch: The ‘three to watch’ section of the match previews has recently been neatly subdividing itself into the obvious star, the QPR connection and the player you may not previously have considered worthy of attention. I say subdividing itself because contrary to what you may perceive LoftforWords is not the result of meticulous planning and forethought, more a freakish collision of words, incorrect grammar, sketchy knowledge of the Championship picked up during the last 20 years and a spare three or four hours a night when normal people are able to go to bed and go to sleep.
Having stumbled across this formula I see no need to deviate from it now with one of the league’s top goal scorers Chris Iwelumo, former QPR centre half Clarke Carlisle and young midfielder Jack Cork in town this Saturday.
It’s an oft repeated mantra on this website that every player has his level, and Chris Iwelumo is surely at his now. The problem with plucking players from divisions lower than the one you currently occupy is that sometimes they just cannot make the step up. Danny Shittu is a prime example of a player who could spend most of his time at this level confidently dominating opponents without ever needing to change out of his club suit, but when thrown into the Premiership, even in a reasonably established team like Bolton, he’s so far out of his depth it almost seems cruel to watch.
Tony Thorpe and some would argue, wrongly in my opinion, Gino Padula are examples of players who starred for our promotion winning team in 2004, only to find themselves released from the club a year later because the step up proved too great. It’s why people like Rickie Lambert stay in League One clocking up impressive numbers – managers just feel he, and others like him, lack that extra yard of pace or killer instinct to make the step up. Malky Mackay was promoted from this league three times with Norwich, Watford and West Ham and then having achieved that Nigel Worthington, Aidy Boothroyd and Alan Pardew made finding his replacement their top priority because they knew he could mark the likes of Clive Platt quite nicely, but would be literally terrorised by people like Thierry Henry.
Chris Iwelumo is with Burnley this season because Wolves don’t think he’s good enough for the top flight despite him scoring 16 goals in this league to take them there in the first place. It’s a fair assumption – in a 14 year career spanning 13 different clubs in four different countries Iwelumo has never been a conspicuous success at the highest level and indeed is best remembered by most football fans for missing an open goal from half a yard out against Norway during one of his four Scotland appearances. He is, incidentally, actually Scottish rather than a member of the Nigel Quashie and Jamie Mackie led Dorking clan.
But in this league he can be brutally effective. Big, powerful, difficult to shake off the ball and with a surprisingly wide skill set for a run of the mill target man Iwelumo has scored eight times for Burnley this season – although admittedly the stats are boosted by a hat trick against a Preston side whose defenders may have been shot for cowardice had they lived in different times. Kaspars Gorkss and Matthew Connolly have struggled with physical forwards in the past, and barely hung onto the coat tails of Grant Holt last time out at Loftus Road – Iwelumo is a similar player and presents a similar challenge.
Clarke Carlisle is likely to receive a frosty reception at best when he makes his latest return to the Bush this Saturday. He visibly winced when Sky Sports’ presenter Dave Jones described him as a former QPR “favourite” when he sat in as a studio guest for our recent televised fixture at Bristol City. You don’t have to be Britain’s Brainiest Footballer to understand why Rangers fans may continue to harbour a small grudge over the manner of his departure from Loftus Road six years ago.
Selecting the most intelligent footballer in Britain is like launching a quest to find the country’s least arrogant Manchester United fan – the field is so narrow it hardly seems worth holding a contest – and although Carlisle comes across as one of the most likeable, articulate and indeed intelligent footballers on the punditry circuit at the moment he has shown himself to be anything but bright in his actions during his footballing career.
This a man who, in an age where dieticians and fitness coaches are routinely employed by football clubs, believes it acceptable to have a cigarette in his mouth whenever he’s not actually out on the pitch. And of course a man who believed the best way of aiding his recovery from a serious knee injury sustained during QPR’s darkest hour, on and off the pitch, was to pickle himself in whatever booze he could lay his hands on to such an extent that he had to spend several weeks in a clinic drying out, while naturally still drawing a wage from a football club that at the time didn’t have two penny pieces to scratch together.
With that in mind he was lucky that so many QPR fans, myself included, were sympathetic to his wish to leave London in 2004 at the end of his contract and move north to be closer to his young family. I even forgave him for signing for Leeds because clearly London, away from his partner and child, was not the best environment for his recovery. Nine months later he turned up at that well known northern outpost Watford, and any sympathy I or anybody else might have felt for him quickly evaporated. He’s since carved out a reputation similar to that of Iwelumo – out of his depth at the highest level, a stand out performer in this division. In Iwelumo’s case I get the impression that he is the absolute best he could ever have been. With Carlisle, having seen him as a teenager at Blackpool and England Under 21 international at QPR, I cannot help but think he would be a far better player had he not suffered that cruciate knee ligament injury at QPR and spent his entire career stuffing harmful filth into his liver and lungs.
Wade Elliott is normally my third pick for this section whenever we play Burnley. The Lee Cook look-and-play-a-like is a particular favourite of mine but following on from the Swansea preview where I wrote extensively about the problem young players face once hoovered up by the massive academies with thick glass ceilings at Chelsea and Tottenham it seems right to have a look at Jack Cork.
It’s no surprise to see Scott Sinclair finally fulfilling his obvious potential in South Wales having found a permanent club and regular first team football after a host of loan deals. Jack Cork is still trapped in that frustrating limbo where he’s never likely to displace the likes of Michael Essien from the Chelsea team and is instead making do with loans – Bournmouth (twice), Southampton, Scunthorpe, Watford, Coventry and Burnley (twice) to date.
This hoarding of young talent in vast academies so nobody else can have it without ever intending to make any use of it is a reprehensible tactic and is stunting the growth of players like Cork, Kyle Walker, Scott Sinclair, Kyle Naughton, Jon Bostock who should be forming the backbone of the England team in years to come. The only winners are clubs like ourselves who occasionally get to borrow said bright young thing for a while at little cost but overall it’s a terrible waste and a big part of the reason we’re not bringing international quality players through to play for our national side.
Links >>> Burnley Official Website >>> Clarets Message Board
Recent Meetings: The last time these sides met was in April 2009 – Burnley were about to be promoted to the Premiership and QPR had just sacked Paulo Sousa in farcical circumstances. The result was somewhat inevitable, with Gareth Ainsworth unusually quiet and hidden from view beginning his second spell as caretaker manager. The game was settled by a controversial goal just after half time – Chris Eagles deflecting Clarke Carlisle’s effort past Radek Cerny with his arm.
Burnley: Jensen 7, Williams 6, Carlisle 8, Caldwell 7, Kalvenes 6, Elliott 7, Alexander 7, McCann 7, Blake 7 (Gudjonsson 79, -), Eagles 7 (McDonald 89, -), Rodriguez 7 (Paterson 86, -)
Subs Not Used: Penny, Duff
Booked: Kalvenes (foul)
Goals: Eagles 49 (assisted Carlisle)
QPR: Cerny 7, Ramage 6, Gorkss 7, Connolly 7, Delaney 6, Routledge 6, Leigertwood 4, Ephraim 6 (Lopez 71, 6), Taarabt 6, Di Carmine 6 (Cook 54, 6), Vine 6 (Alberti 84, -)
Not Used: Mahon, Stewart
That league defeat was the fourth meeting between the sides in as many months following a ire FA Cup third round tie and subsequent replay in front of one man and his dog at Turf Moor on a cold Tuesday night in January. In an atmosphere more akin to a reserve match QPR were the better team for long periods of normal time and all of extra time before contriving to lose with the last kick. Sam Di Carmine gave Rangers the lead after Mikele Leigertwood had won possession in midfield just after half time and counter attacked. Martin Rowlands then hit the bar and Heidar Helguson had a goal disallowed with the most delayed offside decision ever seen before. Steve Thompson got a scruffy equaliser after a poor piece of goalkeeping by Radek Cerny to set up extra time and when QPR failed to make their possession tell penalties looked a certainty. That was until Damion Stewart made a hash of a routine long ball down the field to give Jay Rodriguez a sight of goal and, with Cerny inexplicably in no man’s land, the youngster calmly lobbed the ball towards goal and in off the post to but Burnley into the next round at West Brom.
Burnley: Jensen 8, Alexander 7, Carlisle 7, Caldwell 6, Jordan 7, Elliott 6, McCann 6 (Mahon 20, 5), Gudjonsson 6 (MacDonald 84, 6), Eagles 8, Blake 6 (Rodriguez 69, 6), Thompson 7
Subs Not Used: Penny, Kalvenes, Akinbiyi, Kay
Booked: Caldwell (foul), Mahon (foul)
Goals: Thompson 60 (assisted Gudjohnson), Rodriguez 120 (assisted Carlisle)
QPR: Cerny 4, Hall 5, Stewart 6, Gorkss 7, Delaney 5, Alberti 5, Leigertwood 8, Mahon 6 (Rose 79, 7), Rowlands 5, Ledesma 5 (Ephraim 55, 7), Di Carmine 7 (Helguson 85, 6)
Subs Not Used: Borrowdale, Crowther, Connolly, Ramage
Booked: Delaney (foul), Alberti (foul)
Goals: Di Carmine 54 (assisted Leigertwood)
These teams contrived to produce one of the worst games of football I have ever been to in their first attempt at settling a third round tie at Loftus Road in January 2009. Wade Elliott hit the bar in the first half with a long range volley but that really was just about it – QPR did not manage a serious shot on the goal all afternoon, one routine save from Brian Jensen denied Sam Di Carmine in the first half but that was it. Turgid.
QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 6, Gorkss 7, Stewart 7, Delaney 6, Rowlands 7, Leigertwood 5, Cook 5 (Ledesma 46, 5), Mahon 4 (Ephraim 61, 6), Di Carmine 5 (Agyemang 72, 5), Blackstock 4
Subs Not Used: Cole, Connolly, Alberti, Oastler
Burnley: Jensen 6, Alexander 6, Duff 7, Carlisle 8, Kalvenes 6, Eagles 6, Gudjonsson 6, Elliott 7, Blake 5 (Mahon 72, 5), Paterson 7, Thompson 6 (Rodriguez 86, -)
Subs Not Used: Penny, Akinbiyi, Kay, MacDonald
The last time these sides met in the league at Loftus Road, in November 2008, the Clarets were simply too hot for Rangers to handle as they ran out 2-1 winners. It says a lot about the farce in W12 at the time that I have actually had to look up who was the manager for this one (Gareth Ainsworth) but things actually started well when Lee Cook set up Dexter Blackstock for the opening goal after a quarter of an hour. Burnley, with Chris Eagles to the fore, were soon level though when Robbie Blake finished crisply into the top corner of the net. In the second half the win the visiting team richly deserved was secured when substitute Alan Mahon volleyed past Radek Cerny. They were the best side we played that season by some distance.
QPR: Cerny 6, Ramage 5, Stewart 7, Hall 6, Connolly 5 (Delaney 46, 5), Ephraim 5 (Agyemang 63, 7), Rowlands 6, Tommasi 5 (Mahon 53, 6) Cook 5, Blackstock 6, Di Carmine 5
Subs Not Used: Cole, Ledesma
Booked: Ramage (foul)
Goals: Blackstock 14 (assisted Cook)
Burnley: Jensen 7, Alexander 7, Duff 7, Carlisle 8, Jordan 7, Elliott 8, McCann 7, Gudjonsson 7, Eagles 8 (Mahon 56, 8), Blake 8 (McDonald 79, 7) Thompson 6 (Akinbiyi 84, -)
Subs Not Used: Penny, Paterson
Booked: Gudjonsson (foul), Jordan (foul), McDonald (foul)
Goals: Blake 34, Mahon 60
Head to Head >>> QPR wins 10 >>> Draws 4 >>> Burnley wins 19
Previous Results:
2008/09 Burnley 1 QPR 0
2008/09 Burnley 2 QPR 1 (Di Carmine)
2008/09 QPR 0 Burnley 0
2008/09 QPR 1 Burnley 2 (Blackstock)
2007/08 QPR 2 Burnley 4 (Mahon, Agyemang)
2007/08 Burnley 0 QPR 2 (Stewart, Vine)
2006/07 QPR 3 Burnley 1 (Cook, Blackstock, Lomas)
2006/07 Burnley 2 QPR 0
2005/06 Burnley 1 QPR 0
2005/06 QPR 1 Burnley 1 (Ainsworth)
2004/05 Burnley 2 QPR 0
2004/05 QPR 3 Burnley 0 (Gallen, Santos, Furlong)
2000/01 Burnley 2 QPR 1 (Bignot)
2000/01 QPR 0 Burnley 1
Played for both – Dave Thomas
Burnley 1966-72 >>> QPR 1972-76
In a career spanning twenty years and six clubs, winger Dave Thomas is best remembered both at Turf Moor and Loftus Road. Born and raised in Nottingham Thomas signed pro forms with Burnley at 16 and was tipped as a future England international. He was fast-tracked to the first team and made his debut on the last day of the 1966-67 season against Everton, a club he would later play for. In turn at 16 years and 220 days became the second youngest player ever to play for the club after Tommy Lawton.
Within two years he’d become a first team regular but couldn’t stop the club from being relegated to the Second Division. However he stayed with the Clarets the following campaign and played in all but five of Burnley’s games. Speculation began to mount that Thomas would be moving on but was a surprise when he Burnley sold him to promotion rivals QPR in October 1972.
Thomas, a right-winger, was brought in to replace the injured Martyn Busby who was left-winger. At first Thomas struggled to adapt to the new position but once he did he would go on to excel in his new role and become a huge fan favourite at Loftus Road with his mazy runs and ability to get skip past defenders. Thomas, socks rolled down to his ankles and not a shin pad in sight, helped Rangers to promotion in first season ironically alongside Burnley and over his four seasons in Shepherds Bush was integral part of what was arguably Rangers greatest ever team, coming within a whisker of winning the League title in 1976. He also won eight England caps in his time with Rangers and is widely recognised as one of the club’s greatest ever players.
Thomas left the Super Hoops a year later a joined Everton before enjoying spells with Wolves, Middlesborough, Portsmouth and Vancouver Whitecaps. He became a PE teacher after hanging up his boots and recently featured in a ‘Time of Their Lives’ documentary for Sky Sports on the great QPR side of the 1970s. - AR
Links >>> Burnley 1 QPR 0 Match Report >>> Burnley 2 QPR 1 FA Cup Replay Match Report >>> QPR 0 Burnley 0 FA Cup 3rd Round Match Report >>> QPR 1 Burnley 2 Match Report >>> Connections and Memories
Team News: Having pushed for a first start for the club for several weeks Tommy Smith may miss out this weekend just when it seemed his quest was coming to an end. Smith was likely to replace Hogan Ephraim in the line up this Saturday but could miss the game altogether to attend the birth of his child which is due this weekend. Would never have happened in Trevor Francis’ day. With that in mind it’s likely to be the same starting eleven again for Neil Warnock. Rob Hulse is itching to start but is unlikely to be risked now Heidar Helguson has returned to training after resting the shoulder injury he picked up at Swansea and aggravated at Ashton Gate. Martin Rowlands has a calf niggle and Akos Buzsaky a knee problem – both are back in training but highly unlikely to be involved. Lee Cook and Peter Ramage are the long termers.
Burnley played 120 minutes of cup football on Wednesday night at Aston Villa but made six changes prior to that game and are likely to revert back to their favoured league side here. That should mean a recall from the start for top scorer Chris Iwelumo. Leon Cort has completed his one match ban and will compete with Clarke Carlisle for one centre half position.
Elsewhere: Sky are quite possibly regretting their decision made much earlier in the season to televise Hull City v Barnsley on Saturday evening. When that choice was made they probably never anticipated that Hull would be struggling to score or pick up points rather than push for promotion – as it has turned out you’d struggle to find two more out of form teams than those two for a television game. By some quirk of the fixture list all the promotion and play off contenders seem to be playing each other at the moment – Cardiff have Norwich this weekend and Swansea next which is exactly what QPR faced last week. Rangers meanwhile have Burnley followed by Reading. There is a real clutch of clubs chasing the final play off positions at this early stage with just three points separating Watford in fifth from Ipswich in 14th. Portsmouth v Forest is a clash of two sides heading the right way through that pack, Scunthorpe v Leeds a tasty northern clash between two moving the other way. Tony Mowbray’s Middlesbrough reign starts with a visit of bottom placed Bristol City which has the look of an early six pointer.
Referee: The rather card happy Iain Williamson is back at Loftus Road this Saturday for the first time in two seasons. Despite a penchant for yellow cards his appointment is rather good news for QPR who have only lost one of five games with this referee. His last appointment on this ground was our memorable 1-0 home win against then league leaders Wolves live on Sky when Martin Rowlands lashed home from distance. Click here for more details.
QPR: Rangers have equalled their best ever start to the season with 13 games unbeaten and can break that record with a draw or better again the Clarets. The next record, if you’re interested, is the club’s longest ever unbeaten run that stretched for 20 matches in the 1966/67 season when Rangers won the Third Division and the League Cup with Rodney Marsh to the fore. That run was separated from another 15 game unbeaten charge by just one defeat – one defeat in 36 matches, 103 goals scored and a league and cup double, even the ever miserable QPR fans would have to be happy with that. The 20 game sequence did include eight draws which is worth bearing in mind as four of our last five games have finished level, three of them 0-0, which has allowed Cardiff to level up the goals scored tally and Watford to move ahead of us. Rangers are yet to be beaten, or even concede a goal, in six league games at Loftus Road this season.
Burnley: The Clarets lost their unbeaten home record in dramatic fashion last Saturday as Reading swept into Turf Moor and won 4-0. If you count the extra time loss at Aston Villa in the League Cup as a draw after 90 minutes then Laws’ side have drawn five of their last nine which seems to make another draw likely on Saturday. Burnley are yet to win away in the league this season – drawing four and losing two of their six league games on the road so far. In fact this is becoming a worrying habit for them – you have to go back nine matches to a 4-1 win at Hull last season for their last away win, and prior to that they lost 16 and drew one of their previous 17 road games stretching back to their semi final play off win at Reading in May 2009. So that’s just one win from their last 26 away matches. Usually, that sort of form spells disaster for QPR.
Prediction: Burnley and Reading represent tough challenges for us this week but being the home team and top of the league I’d hope that four points would be the minimum we can achieve. That may well start with a draw here against a Burnley side that has specialised in away draws so far, although their wretched away form during the past 18 months makes this a good opportunity to get back to winning ways. I’ll go for a narrow win, but a draw wouldn’t surprise me.
Draw half time, QPR full time, 17/4 with Unibet