2026-27 Sky Bet Championship: Week Nine – Friday

West Ham face QPR in a London derby as the Sky Bet Championship returns from the first international break of the 2026-27 season. 

Victory would lift West Ham onto the summit until Saturday afternoon, whilst QPR can move above Nuno Espirito Santo’s Hammers with a win into second.

 

Team News

Tomas Soucek is set to make his first West Ham appearance of the season after he missed their first 11 matches in all competitions, having suffered an ankle injury at this summer’s World Cup.

Keiber Lamadrid is ruled out with a knock.

Mohamadou Kante is suspended after he was red carded in their 2-2 draw at Millwall before the international break.

QPR will be without Dennis Cirkin following his red card in their 2-2 draw at home to Preston.

Ilias Chair (muscle), Tariq Lamptey (hamstring), Richard Kone (knee) and Boy Kemper (ankle) are doubts and face late fitness checks.

Karamoko Dembele has resumed training after eight months out with an ACL injury, but is unlikely to be involved as he builds up his fitness.

Rumarn Burrell is ruled out with a knock suffered on international duty for Jamaica.

 

When is Kick-Off?

West Ham host QPR at the London Stadium on Friday 9 October at 8pm BST, live on Sky Sports in the UK.

 

Stat Attack

• West Ham are unbeaten in their last five league meetings against QPR (W3, D2).
• QPR are making their first league visit to West Ham’s current home – London Stadium, but lost 2-1 there in a FA Cup Third Round tie in January 2026.
• No West Ham player has been caught offside on more occasions in the Championship this season than Joel Piroe, with the forward found offside on three occasions in seven appearances.
• Kwame Poku has produced more shots than any other QPR player in their eight league matches so far this season with 19 shots in six appearances, of which he only converted one of five shots on target into a goal.

 

Prediction

Having needed two clinical second-half goals to snatch a draw at Millwall after a sloppy first half bereft of much creativity nor quality, West Ham were lucky to hold on after Kante’s red card but this is a chance now to reset and bring more desire from the get-go.

QPR meanwhile were lucky themselves to snatch a draw against Preston after falling 2-0 down in the first half and having lost Cirkin to a red card, but they do have injury issues so ideally need Chair and Kone back if want any chance of winning here although they have shown grit and fightback capability nevertheless.

I however do think that the international break has fallen at an ideal time for West Ham and they will bounce back here, although QPR should hopefully give them a decent test throughout.

Prediction: West Ham 2-1 QPR

Result: West Ham 1-1 QPR