Fulham make the shortest of trips to Queens Park Rangers on Saturday afternoon knowing that victory will put the club on the brink of securing promotion to the Premier League.
At a time when the leaders sit 14 points clear of third position, QPR have dropped down to eighth spot in the Championship standings, a consequence of losing four of their last five league fixtures.
Match preview
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Requiring no more than 12 points from nine matches to secure a return to the Premier League, most people associated with Fulham will be anticipating the moment where another stint in the top flight is confirmed.
However, that will not be the mindset of head coach Marco Silva, who has witnessed his team claim just one point from games at Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion.
When all is said and done, the performances during that double-header are unlikely to cost the Cottagers, but Silva will be demanding vast improvements at a time when he wants to set standards ahead of next season.
Those disappointing results came on the back end of a relentless run of fixtures, however, and that is something which should be taken into consideration when deliberating over whether Fulham's slump could continue.
Although players being away on international duty has not helped matters, two-and-a-half weeks will have passed since their last fixture come Saturday, enough time for a squad of his depth to establish some freshness in their legs.
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From QPR's perspective, they have put themselves at risk of undoing all of their hard work from earlier in the season with what could prove to be a disastrous run of form.
In the middle of a five-game period, a comeback victory came at rivals Luton Town, but the Hoops have lost from winning positions in three of the other four fixtures.
With difficult encounters also to come in the short term, Mark Warburton knows that his team must find a level of performance which they have not produced since January to remain in the promotion mix.
Five of their remaining eight games will also be played away from their home ground in the capital, increasing the need for defeat to be avoided against their neighbours.
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Team News
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Warburton will make several changes to his QPR XI with Yoann Barbet and Jeff Hendrick both in line for recalls.
Dion Sanderson and Andre Dozzell are expected to drop down to the substitutes' bench, but Andre Gray should keep his place ahead of Charlie Austin.
Lyndon Dykes should take a spot among the replacements after making his return from a hamstring injury for Scotland in midweek.
Joe Bryan may be brought into the Fulham XI with Antonee Robinson playing 90 minutes for the United States in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Jean Michael Seri and Tom Cairney are both pushing for an opportunity in midfield with Nathaniel Chalobah at risk of only featuring on the bench.
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Westwood; Barbet, Dickie, Dunne; Adomah, Field, Hendrick, McCallum; Amos, Chair; Gray
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Rodak; Williams, Adarabioyo, Ream, Bryan; Reed, Seri; Wilson, Carvalho, Decordova-Reid; Mitrovic
We say: Queens Park Rangers 0-2 Fulham
The international break undoubtedly came at the right time for a QPR side who now look alarmingly short of confidence. Nevertheless, a fixture with Fulham has come at the wrong time, and we expect the Cottagers to produce a professional performance and collect all three points.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Fulham win with a probability of 48.81%. A win for Queens Park Rangers had a probability of 26.95% and a draw had a probability of 24.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Fulham win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.72%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.52%) and 0-2 (8.1%). The likeliest Queens Park Rangers win was 1-0 (6.86%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.42%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with an 8.1% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 0-2 win for Fulham in this match and our data analysis correctly predicted the win for Fulham.
