Without a win in seven, and with six away defeats on the spin, injury ravaged QPR head to fellow strugglers Oxford United tonight.

Oxford (11-12-17 LDLWLW 19th) v QPR (11-13-16 LLLDLD 16th)

Sky’s Super Saturday Brunch Spectacular >>> Wednesday April 9, 2025 >>> Kick Off 19.45 >>> Weather – Sunny but cooler >>> Kassam Stadium, Nowhere near Oxford, Oxfordshire

As ever, we will be abiding by the club code and keeping this preview as much of a 1986-free zone as possible.

Still, games on the road against Oxford United do trend strangely towards seismic shitshows for QPR given how seldom these sides meet. A quick burst of seven games in the 80s preceded a ten-year hiatus, and then after eight quickfire matches in the 1990s nothing until now apart from the odd pre-season friendly and one Loftus Road cup tie where Rob Dickie haunted his former club with a 30-yard barnburner. Among them, though, some dark days.

The eight games played across four seasons between 1995 and 1998 perfectly encapsulated the decline of QPR through that period. In the first they were a Premier League side looking to avoid a lower division giant killing in the League Cup, by the fourth Rangers were a shambolic, bankrupt First Division side getting ready to head into the third tier.

Oxford were QPR’s first opponent in the First Division after relegation, with late goals from Danny Dichio and Kevin Gallen sealing a 2-1 home win against the newly promoted U’s. By the time it came to play the return fixture at The Manor Ground on Easter Saturday, Stewart Houston had replaced Ray Wilkins in the dugout and the team had been reshaped around big money arrivals like John Spencer and Gavin Peacock. With the likes of Alan McDonald, Danny Maddix, Andy Impey, Trevor Sinclair, Paul Murray and Nigel Quashie all still around with Dichio and Gallen and the new comers, that really should have been a play-off team at least. A run of form that included a 3-2 win at Oxford – all the goals in the first half – looked like it might do it, but Rangers had left the surge too late and finished ninth.

Any hope that was merely the R’s setting up for a proper promotion tilt in 1997/98 were quickly dispelled after a fine September in which they briefly topped the table. Houston was sacked and Ray Harford was poached from West Brom having promised Chris Wright, Nick Blackburn and co that he couldn’t possibly fail to get Rangers promoted with the strikers they had at their disposal – by now Mike Sheron had been added for a club record fee. Stark realisation started to dawn when Joey Beauchamp and Oxford ran absolute riot against Rangers in this fixture, televised live on Sky for the nation to gawp at. The subsequent 1-1 draw at Loftus Road was one of six consecutive draws which eventually kept QPR up. They won just one of their last 16 games. Similar vibes to tonight.

Harford’s last game in charge was at Oxford the following year. Rangers shipped four against a U’s side that would eventually finish second bottom and head out of the second tier, never to return until this season. Each was more defensively shambolic than the last – goalkeeper’s caught out by the corner flag, defenders falling over each other, penalties given away. Beauchamp helped himself as usual, a young Dean Windass scored, future QPR striker Andy Thomson netted. It was a farce, illuminated only briefly by Tony Scully’s long range strike in the last minute in front of a deserted away end. The few that had stayed trashed Harford’s car outside the ground afterwards and he resigned. Gerry Francis returned and kept Rangers up, again a late season scrapped win against Oxford at Loftus Road proved crucial to that, and although there was a decent midtable season to come in 1999/00 the club was Second Division bound, on and off the pitch, and was finally relegated in 2001.

We’ve never played at competitive fixture at the three-sided Kassam Stadium, but a couple of summers back Gareth Ainsworth brought a full strength team here for the final warm up match before the 2023/24 season kicked off for real. It was to prove a disastrous afternoon. Jimmy Dunne dislocated his shoulder, Chris Willock torched his relationship with the manager once and for all with a disgusting display, Taylor Richards turned in such a disgraceful effort it effectively ended his career at the club, and Rangers were beaten 5-0. Booed off in a pre-season friendly, a week later they predictably found themselves 4-0 down at half time in the opening league game at Watford. Any hope that Ainsworth would be able to get the buy-in from his players and build a Championship Wycombe 2.0 back at Loftus Road were dead on arrival.

There’s a fear lurking not far beneath the surface that tonight’s first league visit here could bring more of the same.

Des Buckingham was sacked after losing 2-0 at Loftus Road in one of the worst games played on that ground in living memory before Christmas. Gary Rowett’s first nine games in charge brought 19 points, which was the best record in the league across that period and justified the change. The U’s won only five points in the next nine games though, the league’s worst total, and looked like they were sinking back towards the relegation spot many tipped them for last summer. Two quickfire 1-0 home wins, both provided by Kaddy’s brother Siriki Dembele, have eased those fears, and they beat Sheff Utd here at the weekend who have the division’s best away record. One more win might just about do it at the end of a chaotic season in which they’ve signed 21 players and changed manager once.

Knowing Rowett, he’ll smell that opportunity tonight. QPR look wholly checked out of this season. It feels like there's more chance of me managing QPR next season than Marti Cifuentes at this point, and even if all was happy and well and the manager was sticking around what exactly do you want him to pick from what’s available? He’s missing a good ten players from his first choice team, including all the strikers – though there is some suggestion, from the club at least, that Rayan Kolli might be back tonight. Those that are left are either not good enough, particularly in the forwards, not arsed, or both. The team seems increasingly reliant on Ronnie Edwards, who continues to perform well in preparation for a full season at this level with his parent club Southampton, and young Liam Morrison, who is unbeaten in ten starts for the club despite the team’s struggles this season. With the strike force we’re able to put on the field at the moment it's feeling increasingly like that 1997/98 season where we won one of the last 16 games but stayed up courtesy of six consecutive draws at the end.

QPR found some intensity at home to Leeds, and were at least strong defensively in Saturday’s dour draw against a dreadful Cardiff side, but they’ve lost six away games on the spin. I expect Rowett to send his team out fired up, aggressive and front foot, trying to seize a great opportunity to effectively achieve their mission for the season. We’ll have to match that, particularly early in the game.

Turn up and play as we have been doing lately, and it feels like another long night on the road against Oxford United could be in store. Whether that would prompt the same seismic shifts as it has prior will only be known in time.

Links >>> One win away – Oppo Profile >>> To the Manor Ground – History >>> Newbie – Referee >>> Oxford official website >>> Oxford Mail — Local Press >>> Last Word on Sport —Blog >>> Vital Oxford — Blog >>> Yellows Forum — Message Board >>> The Fence End — Podcast >>> T’Manor — Podcast

Below the fold

Team News: As Charlie Kelman bags goals 20 and 21 for Leyton Orient at Mansfield last night (now nine goals in his last 12 games) QPR prepare to head to Oxford with no strikers at all with Zan Celar out long term, Michi Frey out until the end of the week at least and Alfie Lloyd aggravating his groin injury in the draw with Cardiff at the weekend. The latest injury update on the club’s official site says Rayan Kolli has “returned to full training and is available for selection”. Ostensibly good news, except the journalists who cover the club and get the benefit of pre- and post-match press conferences with Cifuentes have been saying differently – Dave Mc said last week the Algerian had suffered a setback in his recovery, Sam Tabuteau at the Hounslow Herald says Kolli will be assessed ahead of the game but as it stands QPR have no fit strikers.

Koki Saito serves the third game of his suspension, Ilias Chair is expected to return to training next week, Steve Cook remains sidelined with his foot injury. Jake Clarke-Salter and Harvey Vale are long term absentees.

No reunion with former winger Matt Phillips for the R’s tonight, he’s sidelined. Captain Elliott Moore is also out but Greg Leigh has returned to training to give Gary Rowett the chance to freshen up a side that beat Sheff Utd at the weekend.

Elsewhere: There were late equalisers for Cardiff and Luton in last night’s games, but it could certainly have been a much worse Tuesday for Rangers. City’s 2-2 draw at Preston keeps them four points away and still occupying the final relegation place. Luton are second bottom, two points shy of safety and eight away from QPR. Their injury time goal last night also kept Stoke in the mix and prevented Mark Robins’ side drawing level with Rangers on the league ladder. Predictably, Derby got a 0-0 with Burnley and remain four points away, while Hull were beaten 1-0 at Watford and are 19th on 44 points.

At the other end Red Bull Leeds had two perfectly good goals disallowed for offside at Middlesbrough, but Boro’s sense of comic timing didn’t stretch to a last minute equaliser and the visitors ran out 1-0 winners. With Sheffield Red Stripe following the weekend slip at Oxford with another at home to Millwall it’s been a good week for Daniel Farke’s side. Millwall, meanwhile, are now only three points away from the play offs themselves. The form side in that top six race is Bristol City, just in time for their visit to Shepherd’s Bush, and they won in stoppage time at home to West Brom last night to move into fifth place.

Blackburn surprisingly fought back from two goals down to draw at home to Sheff Wed, and Norwich and Sunderland fought out a nothing 0-0 at Carrow Road.

Two other games tonight as Plymouth head to Swanselona and Portsmouth are at Frank Lampard’s Coventry.

Referee: It’s been a rapid ascension up the EFL list for Liverpool’s Elliot Bell, who only started refereeing in 2015 and did his first Football League games this time last year when he finished the season with Bristol Rovers 0-0 Shrewsbury and Wycombe 1-0 Charlton in League One. He started this season mixing National League, League Two and EFL Trophy games before moving into League One. He made his Championship debut at the start of February with Swansea 0-1 Sheff Wed and has since also refereed Derby 0-1 Millwall at this level. Details.

Form

Oxford: The U’s come into this game four places but only three points north of the bottom three as the wrong end of the Championship table continues to bunch up with the finishing line in sight. That’s despite only winning one away game all season, with seven draws and 12 defeats – only Plymouth with one win and six draws have a worse away record. Ominously for tonight that means much of the heavy lifting has been done at home. Oxford beat the division’s best away side Sheff Utd here at the weekend to make it ten wins, five draws and five defeats from the 20 games here so far. Along with Portsmouth’s identical 10-5-5 that’s the best home record in the bottom half of the table, more home wins than eighth-placed West Brom and the same as fifth-placed Boro. If you include Boxing Day (Thursday) Oxford have played five midweek home games in all comps this season, winning four and drawing one.

The defeat at Loftus Road earlier in the season was part of a run of one win in 16 games that cost Des Buckingham his job. Gary Rowett won 19 points in his first nine games in the Championship, the division’s best record across that period. They then took just five points from the next nine, the division’s worst total. But Rowett’s side have won their last two here, both 1-0, against Watford and Sheff Utd. Kaddy Dembele’s brother Siriki scored the winner in both games, but they were his first two goals of the season. Dembele has a previous QPR notch on his bedpost, scoring a late winner for Peterborough in the 2021/22 season where Rangers contrived to lose three different times to newly promoted Posh as they headed towards relegation. Mark Harris is the top league scorer here with six goals, but four of those came in the first five games of the season and the Welsh international has scored just twice in 36 games since.

Aside from an infamous pre-season friendly under Gareth Ainsworth, Rangers hadn’t faced Oxford competitively prior to this season since August 2021 when Rob Dickie against his former club and an own goal secured passage from the League Cup second round with a 2-0 win. The last league meeting between the two was when Oxford last played in the second tier, March 1999, and a crucial 1-0 win for Gerry Francis’ struggling side secured by a late, scrambled, Rob Steiner goal. The last competitive meeting in Oxford was September 1998 and a disastrous 4-1 loss which brought the curtain down on Ray Harford’s dire reign as manager. Oxford have won nine, QPR 16 and there have been six draws between the sides.

QPR: It’s now seven without a win for Rangers (D2 L5). The R’s have lost eight of their last 12 after only being beaten once in the prior 13. No team in the division has lost more than Rangers since the run started on January 25. Away from home it’s now six straight defeats for the first time since August 2018, and the first time in a single Championship season since 2006/07. QPR have won just four away games from 20 attempts – Plymouth 24th, Luton 23rd, Cardiff 22nd and Hull 19th meaning that if the R’s win tonight it will be the highest team in the table they’ve beaten on the road as Oxford are flying high in 18th.

The win in the first meeting with Oxford bucked QPR’s recent trend for losing to sides newly promoted from League One. Last season they took one point from two games against Ipswich (0-1 H, 0-0 A), lost twice to Sheff Wed (1-2 A, 0-2 H), and drew twice with Plymouth (0-0 H, 1-1 A). The year before they took three points from Wigan (2-1 H, 0-1 A), one from Rotherham (1-1 H, 1-3 A) and one point from Sunderland (2-2 A, 0-3 H). Four points from Hull (3-0 A, 1-1 H) and Blackpool (1-1 A, 2-1 H) improves the total for 21/22 a bit but there were an infamous three losses to Peterborough (1-2 A league, 0-2 A cup, 1-3 H league) and the year before we won three of six against Coventry, Rotherham and Wycombe. This season there have been wins at home to Oxford and Derby, but a defeat at Pride Park and two losses to Portsmouth making it three wins from 18 such games. Away from home the record is exponentially worse. The 3-0 away win at Hull in August 2021 under Mark Warburton is Rangers’ only away win against a newly promoted side in 24 attempts (D9 L14).

Rangers are unbeaten in Liam Morrison’s ten starts for the club – five wins, five draws. They have conceded just six goals with him on the pitch this season across his 761 minutes of action (ten starts and five sub appearances). The team has kept nine clean sheets all season, and Morrison has played in six of those despite only making 15 appearances.

Prediction: In our Prediction League for 2024/25 we’ll once again be handing out prizes for being top at Christmas and overall winner from The Art of Football - sample the merch from our sponsor’s newly extended QPR collection here. For the first time last year we had joint winners so this season you’ll be hearing from one or both WestonsuperR and SimplyNico in the match previews...

Nico’s Prediction: We are now into that part of the season where we find out who has got the balls to stay up. And up next we have Oxford, managed by excellent organiser, Gary Rowett, one of the better managers in the Championship. Against what will be Rowett's well organised side, we have what is still playable from the CEO/Director of Football's unbelievable summer recruitment drive. We may or may not have a forward in Rayan Kolli depending on which media you believe. Even if Kolli is playable, he will not have a full game in him and we will therefore effectively have no forwards for at least part of the game. Again. The question that has to be asked is whether we have it in us to grind out a draw at Oxford, who have the bit between their teeth following their win over Sheffield United. I doubt it – we are circling the plughole.”

Weston’s Call “Hard to draw many (any!) positives from Cardiff apart from they were nearly as poor as us. It is now very difficult to see us gaining many more points based on the last two matches and the extensive injury list - such a crazy situation to have no strikers available. Oxford have great recent home form including a fine win over Sheff Utd in Saturday, we have lost six in a row away, can’t see anything other than a comfortable loss.”

Nico’s Prediction: Oxford 2-0 QPR. No scorer.

WestonSuperR’s Prediction: Oxford 2-0 QPR. No scorer.

LFW’s Prediction: Oxford 2-0 QPR. No scorer.

If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk.

Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

062259 added 15:20 - Apr 9 limping
1

Queens Park Rangers Polls