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      MATCH PREVIEW

QUEENS PARK RANGERS v WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Barclays Premier League
Wednesday 26th December 2012, 3pm
Loftus Road

MATCH NOTES

Albion have not won on any of their last 11 league visits to London, since a 3-2 win at Arsenal in September 2010.

The Baggies are unbeaten in Premier League action against Rangers and have lost just one of their last four league visits to Loftus Road.

Albion have won just four out of their last 17 games played on Boxing Day. The last victory coming in 2009 at home to Peterborough United.

Rangers and Albion have met on Boxing Day at Loftus Road once before, in 1968, when Alan Ashman's men ran out 4-0 winners. Ian Collard (2), Dennis Martin and Ronnie Rees were the goalscorers.

Albion's last six games: Norwich City (H) 2-1; West Ham United (H) 0-0; Arsenal (A) 0-2; Stoke City (H) 0-1; Swansea City (A) 1-3; Sunderland (A) 4-2

Rangers' last six games: Newcastle United (A) 0-1; Fulham (H) 2-1; Wigan Athletic (A) 2-2; Aston Villa (H) 1-1; Sunderland (A) 0-0; Manchester United (A) 1-3

TEAM NEWS

Albion

Midfielder Youssouf Mulumbu returns in place of Graham Dorrans after serving his one match suspension whilst Marc-Antoine Fortune replaces Peter Odemwingie in the starting line-up.

Claudio Yacob (hamstring) and Steven Reid (shin) are both out.

Line-up: Foster; Jones, McAuley, Olsson, Popov; Mulumbu, Morrison; Fortune, Gera, Brunt; Lukaku. Subs: Myhill; Ridgewell, Rosenberg, Long, Dorrans, Odemwingie, Tamas.

Queens Park Rangers

Rangers’ goalkeeper Julio Cesar should be fit to return after his back injury but defenders Nedum Onuoha and Armand Traore are both doubtful due to hamstring problems.

Park Ji-sung (knee), Andrew Johnson (knee) and Bobby Zamora (hip) are all out.

Squad from: Green, Cesar, Murphy, Cerny, Onuoha, Hill, Nelsen, Ferdinand, Mbia, Fabio, Traore, Derry, Diakite, Granero, Taarabt, Hoilett, Faurlin, Wright-Phillips, Ephraim, Mackie, Cisse.

QUOTES

Baggies' boss Steve Clarke:

"I think it's a surprise to most people in football that QPR are where they are. They made a significant investment during the summer in a number of players.

“Harry has gone in there and they managed to get their first win. We are playing them on the back of that first home win. They lost narrowly at
Newcastle, which is understandable because it’s a difficult place to go.

"They will be buoyed by the fact they won their previous home game. We will need to be at our best to get anything out of the game.

“Harry has been in charge for five matches. They’ve only lost the last one, which was a difficult away one at St James’ Park.

“He's managed to get a first win on the board. That would have been a big psychological barrier for them.

“We have to go there and make sure we’re strong mentally and up for the fight because they are fighting for their lives. We have to impose our style of football on them and hopefully get another positive result.”

www.wba.co.uk

Queens Park Rangers' manager Harry Redknapp:

“They’ve done really well. Steve Clarke has done an excellent job.

“They’re a side that’s been building for years and has got better every year.

“But we’re at home, we won our last home game against Fulham and we’ve got to be ready now for West Brom and Liverpool.

www.qpr.co.uk

MATCH ODDS

Result

Albion Win: 21/10, QPR Win: 5/4, Draw: 23/10.

First Goalscorer

Cisse 11/2, Mackie 6/1, Taarabt 13/2, Long 13/2, Lukaku 7/1, Hoilett 8/1, Odemwingie 8/1, Fortune 9/1, Rosenberg 9/1, Wright-Phillips 12/1, Gera 12/1, Morrison 12/1, Brunt 14/1, Ephraim 16/1, Granero 16/1, Diakite 18/1, Dorrans 18/1, El Ghanassy 18/1, Dyer 20/1, Mulumbu 20/1.

REFEREE

Chris Foy (Merseyside) - Has refereed two Albion games so far this season, the 1-0 victory at home to Reading in September and the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle in October. The Merseyside official took charge of three Albion games last season, all at The Hawthorns - The 2-0 win against Wolves in October, the 4-0 win against Sunderland in February, and the 3-1 defeat against Newcastle United in March.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for the game have now completely sold out.

WEATHER FORECAST

Rain, 9°C

FIXTURE HISTORY

The first ever meeting between the two clubs was a friendly match at Rangers' West Kilburn ground on 8 January 1898. The game saw Albion run out 4-1 winners.

The first league meetings took place during the 1948/49 season. The first game, which took place at Loftus Road on November 6, ended in a 2-0 win for the Baggies. Dave Walsh and Frank Hodgetts were the scorers in front of a crowd of almost 25,000.

The return game at The Hawthorns in April ended all-square at 1-1, Billy Elliott the Albion goalscorer whilst Billy Pointon netted for the visitors.

Albion’s biggest win against Rangers is 5-1, achieved during Albion's Championship winning season of 2007/08. Kevin Phillips (2), Ishmael Miller, Robert Koren and captain Jonathan Greening were the goalscorers for Tony Mowbray's men.

Another big win for the Baggies came at Loftus Road in December 1968 when Albion, then under FA Cup Winning manager Alan Ashman, strolled to a 4-0 victory. Ian Collard (2), Dennis Martin and Ronnie Rees the goalscorers.

QPR's biggest win against the Baggies is 3-1, achieved twice, first in August 1984 when Simon Stainrod (2) and Terry Fenwick netted and then in March 2010 when former Albion loanee Jay Simpson was amongst the Rangers' goalscorers.

 

LAST LEAGUE MEETING AT LOFTUS ROAD

Queens Park Rangers 1-1 Albion
Barclays Premier League
Saturday 3rd December 2011, 3:00pm

Queens Park Rangers: Cerny, Young, Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Traore, Mackie, Barton, Faurlin, Wright-Phillips, Bothroyd (Buzsaky 74), Helguson. Subs not used: Putnins, Orr, Hill, Derry, Taarabt, Smith.

Goalscorer: Helguson 20

Albion: Foster, Reid, Olsson, McAuley, Shorey, Thomas (Odemwingie 65), Dorrans (Tchoyi 78), Mulumbu (Scharner 83), Morrison, Brunt, Long. Subs not used: Fulop, Dawson, Jones, Cox.

Goalscorer: Long 81

Booked: Long, Thomas, Reid

Attendance: 17,290

Referee: Martin Atkinson (West Yorkshire)

Shane Long's late goal helped West Brom rescue a point from a match QPR will be wondering how they failed to win. The Rs looked set to propel themselves into the top half when Heidar Helguson netted for the fourth successive Premier League match. The 34-year-old's sixth of the campaign came after 20 minutes when he headed home a superb first-time ball from Joey Barton at the back-post. Shaun Wright-Phillips thought he had doubled the home side's advantage moments later, although the winger's superb effort was chalked off for a tight offside call. Neil Warnock felt aggrieved at the decision and saw his side fritter away numerous chances to extend their lead, allowing Long to level in the 81st minute. Substitute Peter Odemwingie ghosted down the left flank and his superb cross was tucked away by Ireland international Long at the back post.

Heading into the match, the home side had been boosted by the return of skipper Barton from suspension, while Jay Bothroyd was also drafted in by manager Warnock. Counterpart Roy Hodgson made one change of his own for the Loftus Road encounter, bringing in Graham Dorrans for the injured Zoltan Gera. The Hungary international has been ruled out for the season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament, although replacement Dorrans looked lively in the opening exchanges. Fellow Scotland international James Morrison fired in the first shot of the afternoon in the ninth minute, before Wright-Phillips and Barton had attempts of their own at the other end. Neither managed to test West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster, but counterpart Radek Cerny was being tested with regularity. The third-choice QPR goalkeeper - playing due to injuries to both Paddy Kenny and Brian Murphy - thwarted a weak Gareth McAuley header before then doing well to stop a Jerome Thomas effort. While West Brom looked slightly more dangerous going forward, it was QPR that broke the deadlock after a fine move in the 20th minute. Jamie Mackie's mazy run in the box was halted by a fine tackle, but the ball fell kindly for Barton to loft a first-time ball to the back-post for Helguson to head home. QPR thought they had doubled their advantage moments later when Wright-Phillips showed great technique to fire past Foster, although the winger's goal was disallowed for a tight offside call. Despite the frustration, the west Londoners were playing with new-found confidence and Mackie came close with a long-range shot as the home side pressed with half-time closing in.

QPR continued in the ascendancy after the break and, having seen Morrison's calls for a penalty turned down at the other end, a lucky ricochet saw the home side come close to netting a second. Alejandro Faurlin controlled the ball after a blocking a clearance, played a neat one-two with Barton and then curled just wide under pressure from Foster. The match ebbed and flowed as West Brom began to assert themselves more, although QPR again came close during a penalty-box scramble involving Wright-Phillips, Mackie and Helguson. West Brom were still in with a shout and Chris Brunt saw a long-range effort drift wide shortly after Foster almost gifted the Rs a second goal. Armand Traore hassled the Albion goalkeeper, whose failure to make a simple collection would have been punished if Wright-Phillips could have directed home the left-back's cross. QPR continued to press for an all-important second goal and were made to pay for their futility nine minutes from time. Odemwingie outpaced Luke Young down the left flank and Long tucked home from close range at the back post. The home side pressed forward in a bid to regain the lead, but were frustrated by West Brom's resolute defence and had Cerny to thank for stopping a late Brunt free-kick.

Sporting Life

CURRENT CONNECTIONS

Rob Hulse spent two years at The Hawthorns after joining from Crewe Alexandra in the summer of 2003. His first season at the club was a success and he quickly became a fan favourite but with the club clinching promotion to the Premier League he would find appearances harder to come by the following season at the higher level. Hulse joined Leeds United on loan for the last three months of the 2004/05 season before leaving to join them permanently at the end of the season. Spells at Sheffield United and Derby County followed before the Crewe-born striker moved to Loftus Road in September 2010. His time at Rangers’ has not been a success and the player is currently on loan at Charlton Athletic.

Current Baggies’ right-back Steven Reid spent a month on loan at Loftus Road from Blackburn Rovers during the 2009/10 season shortly before joining Albion whilst Baggies' winger Jerome Thomas spent two spells on loan at Rangers from Arsenal during 2002.

PAST CONNECTIONS

Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Colin Anderson, Brett Angell, Gary Bannister, Paul Barron, Steve Burke, Clive Clark, Danny Dichio, Jimmy Dugdale, Lloyd Dyer, Peter Eastoe, Wayne Fereday, Danny Gabbidon, Allan Glover, Adam Haywood, Peter Hucker, Andy King, Billy Law, Andy McDermott, Ishmael Miller, Paul Peschisolido, Nigel Quashie, Alf Ridyard, Georges Santos, Ernie Shepherd, Jay Simpson, Garry Thompson, Billy Thompson, Ben Watson, Ike Webb, Fred Wheldon, Bill Williams.

Ray Harford had short spells as manager of both clubs during the late 1990s; Gordon Clark, who was Baggies' boss from 1959-61, was later assistant manager at Rangers; Former Albion player and manager Don Howe later coached and managed QPR; Mike Kelly coached at both clubs.

ALL-TIME LEAGUE & CUP RECORD VS QUEENS PARK RANGERS

 VENUE P W D  L F A
 Home 20 11 6 3 38 22
 Away 17 6 3 8 19 19
 Neutral 2 0 0 2 2 4
 Total 39 17 9 13 59 45

LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST QUEENS PARK RANGERS

DATE COMPETITION H/A F-A GOALSCORERS  GATE
Sat 06 Oct 2012 Premier League H 3-2 Morrison, Gera, Mulumbu - Taarabt, Granero  23,987
Sat 14 Apr 2012 Premier League H 1-0 Dorrans  25,521
Sat 03 Dec 2011 Premier League A 1-1 Long - Helguson  17,290
Sat 06 Mar 2010 Championship A 1-3 Brunt - Simpson, Connolly, Buzsaky  14,578
Mon 14 Dec 2009 Championship H 2-2 Thomas, Cox - Olsson (og), Gorkss  21,565
Sun 04 May 2008 Championship A 2-0 Kim, Brunt  18,309
Sun 30 Sep 2007 Championship H 5-1 Phillips 2, Miller, Koren, Greening - Ainsworth  24,757
Sat 31 Mar 2007 Championship A 2-1 Phillips, Gera - Blackstock  14,784
Tue 31 Oct 2006 Championship H 3-3 Ellington, Kamara 2 - Stewart, Gallen, Nygaard  17,417
Sat 13 Jan 2001 League Division 1 A 0-2 Plummer, Koejoe  11,881

 

 
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