2021-22 Sky Bet Championship: Week 20 – Monday

Derby County continue their fight for Sky Bet Championship survival as Wayne Rooney’s Rams welcome QPR to Pride Park.

Victory would see Derby cut their deficit towards safety down to 16 points whereas QPR can go third with a win.

 

Team News

Festy Ebosele is a doubt for Derby after suffering from cramp during their last two matches against Bournemouth and Fulham respectively.

Lee Buchanan (knee), Sam Baldock (hamstring), Jack Stretton and Krystian Bielik (both knee) are ruled out.

QPR could welcome Lyndon Dykes (ankle), Andre Gray (knee), and Moses Odubajo (hamstring) back from injury if the trio pass late fitness tests.

Jordy De Wijs (calf) and Sam McCallum (hamstring) remain ruled out indefinitely.

 

Stat Attack

• Derby have lost just two of their last ten meetings against QPR (W5, D3, L2).
• QPR have claimed just four points from their last six visits to Derby (W1, D1, L4).
• Both teams won away at each other’s ground last season by 1-0 results, with both goals scored after half-time.
• Derby have scored first in six of their nine home league matches this season and went on to avoid defeat across all six occasions (W3, D3).
• QPR scored first in four of their last five away matches although they went on to lose two of those four games (W1, D1, L2).

 

Prediction

Derby come into this match high on confidence with five points from their last three matches despite facing tricky opposition in Bournemouth and Fulham just three days apart last week, where they were clinical against the Cherries before stubbornly denying the Cottagers in midweek.

QPR meanwhile are in solid form despite missing Dykes and Gray who have been crucial to their firepower up front, yet were dominant against Huddersfield in midweek despite wasting several chances so hopefully we could see them find better end product if at least one of Dykes or Gray returns.

This fixture though has swung Derby’s way in recent seasons but with both teams in solid form, I can see a tightly fought battle here but QPR do appear to have the better quality defensively to win this.

Prediction: Derby 1-2 QPR

Result: Derby 1-2 QPR