QPR vs Swansea prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-09-18 18:45.
In spite of a 3-1 defeat against Sunderland at the weekend, QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth believes his side are showing “signs of improvement” ahead of the Championship’s first midweek round of the season. That means a swift return home for QPR, who might find that more a hindrance than a help given they’re winless in their last seven league outings at Loftus Road (D1, L6).
It’s not just recently where QPR have struggled on home turf either, with their misery spanning back to November 2022, winning just one of 17 Championship home outings since (D3, L13). It’s hard to find any positives from that wretched home run, but one of those games in which they avoided defeat did come against upcoming opponents Swansea (1-1), yet that only served to extend their winless home league H2H run to four games (D2, L2).
You could say this is a meeting of two under-fire managers, with Swansea boss Michael Duff thrust firmly into the firing line after a 2-0 defeat against South Wales rivals Cardiff City at the weekend. Duff admitted as much himself in the aftermath, but urged the fans and players to “stick together” as they seek to navigate through what’s been a decisively poor start to the season (D2, L4).
The Swans are one of just three remaining winless sides in the Championship, and considering they’re without a victory in five Tuesday-held second-tier games (D1, L4), they appear up against it to change the narrative here. Swansea’s plight worsens too when considering Duff has never beaten an Ainsworth-led side in his managerial career to date (D1, L2)!
Players to watch: QPR’s Kenneth Paal has a taste for scoring against South Wales opposition, having netted two of his last three club goals against Cardiff, both of which came after the hour mark. Swansea could do with Jerry Yates refinding his scoring touch, as his two league strikes this term earned the Swans a pair of 1-1 draws. Better still would be a replication of the 6-1 mauling Yates’ Blackpool side handed out to QPR last season in which he opened the scoring after just three minutes.
Hot streak: None of the last seven H2Hs have featured more than two goals.