Queen’s Park Rangers v Brentford FC

Friday’s Championship fixture sees two sides who are doggy paddling in mid-table take each other on. Neither team has had any great consistency so far, so for either side to win may just start off a good run.

Queens Park Rangers manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was one of the main figures in the Daily Telegraph’s recent sting on corruption in football. However, Q.P.R. chose to back their Dutch manager and were rewarded with a continuation of their five-match unbeaten run until last weekend’s loss away to Sheffield Wednesday.

Since their relegation from the Premier League last season, Rangers have found it difficult to get any momentum going in the Championship, unlike fellow relegated team’s Hull City and Burnley who bounced straight back up. Last season they finished a disappointing 12th and so far it looks like it will be a similarly poor campaign.

Fans have complained of the team’s boring style of play under Hasselbaink. Usually you would counter that argument by saying it has achieved results, however, this has not happened. With fans discontent and a trigger-happy Queen’s Park Rangers board, I would not be at all surprised if the London side finish the 2016/17 season with a different manager.

As previously mentioned, Q.P.R. are very much a mixed bag this season and have failed to get any sort of run going. Home form especially had been pretty poor until recently with just one win on opening day, however, their recent win at Loftus Road against playoff-chasing Bristol City will have lifted the spirits in west London.

Brentford are in a similar situation and have been unable to achieve a string of decent results this season. They won two on the bounce back in August but have failed to replicate that sort of form since.

It will be interesting to see how the Bees do this season under Dean Smith. The 45-year-old did a fantastic job in his previous role as Walsall boss where he brought through some of the Football League’s best youngsters and continually overachieved on a shoestring budget. Whether he will be afforded the sort of time he was allowed at the Saddlers to achieve such positive things is another question.

Goals have been a problem for the Middlesex side this season. Although their ‘Goals For’ column reads 19 in 14 games, which is not a terrible return, when you take out their 5-0 victory over Preston North End and their 4-1 victory over Reading, 10 goals in 12 games does look pretty poor. The Bees may score on a regular basis but one goal per game is not good enough to kill teams off in a tough league like the Championship.

The Bees’ away form is also a bit sketchy with just one win on the road all season and two points out of a possible 12 in their last four matches away from Griffin Park.

Due to the inconsistency shown by both of these sides, It’s hard to differentiate between a Q.P.R. win and a draw here. Given the home advantage and Brentford’s poor form on the road, It is hard to avoid the former, but I also feel that Rangers’ general inconsistency could see Brentford nick a point. Overall, though, Brentford really do struggle on the road and it’s very hard to see them taking anything from this match. With this in mind, the obvious bet is ‘Queen’s Park Rangers Draw No Bet’ at Evens.

Secondly, with both of these teams pretty poor going forward, another good looking bet is ‘Under 2.5 Goals’ at 4/5. Q.P.R’s last three home games have all had less than three goals, whilst when we look at Brentford’s away matches against similar opposition, we generally see low-scoring affairs.

In addition, ‘Both Teams to Score – No’, at 11/10, completes the line-up here. As mentioned before, I doubt this will be a game full of attacking football and I think goal-scoring opportunities will be few and far between.

See more tips here.