QPR vs West Brom prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2024-03-05 20:00.
There’s hope yet for Queens Park Rangers under head coach Martà Cifuentes, who for the second time in his 21-game Championship tenure has steered the relegation contenders to three consecutive league wins. After spending the best part of five months in the bottom three, Cifuentes proclaimed his team are “moving in the right direction” following a surprise 2-1 win away to league leaders Leicester City.
With such a compact and populated logjam in the bottom third of the table, it won’t take long to fall back in if they can’t make the most of back-to-back games at home, where QPR have lost seven of their nine Championship home matches (W1, D1) against clubs joining upcoming opponents West Bromwich Albion in the top half of the standings. But encouragingly, one of the two exceptions (2-2 v Norwich) rests in their current four-game unbeaten Championship home run (W2, D2).
West Brom boosted their play-off aspirations whilst dealing the ambitions of a Midlands rival a significant blow by beating Coventry City 2-1 on Friday night. It marked the beginning of what head coach Carlos Corberán hailed as an “incredibly positive” takeover from a Florida-based father and son entrepreneurial combo completed last week, and more importantly saw them retain fifth place in the Championship standings.
An improved ability to collect points on the road against quality opposition is also contributing to their renewed play-off push. Since a stretch of three consecutive away losses during December and January stalled their momentum, West Brom demolished Plymouth (3-0) between a pair of draws away to fellow top-six sides Ipswich (2-2) and Hull (1-1), leaving them well placed to complete a league double over QPR following a 2-0 H2H triumph in October.
Players to watch: Hailed by his boss as “a player with extreme skill” and “very important for the team”, Sinclair Armstrong has delivered second half goals in two of QPR’s last five Championship victories. Mikey Johnston has been similarly instrumental in West Brom’s recent success, finding the net in each of their last three league wins.
Hot stat: West Brom have one of the Championship’s best conversion rates when opening the scoring: W17, D2, L1.