Queens Park Rangers will be aiming to continue their ascent up the Championship table when they take on out-of-form Preston North End at Deepdale on Wednesday evening.
Mark Warburton's men have won four games in a row to move up to 13th, level on points with a Preston side with just two wins from their last nine league matches.
Match preview
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QPR have been on a remarkable run of form since the turn of the year, winning six of their seven league matches in 2021 by an aggregate 10-4 scoreline.
That has not been enough to propel them into serious playoff contention, however, as they sit 10 points adrift of the top six, albeit with two games in hand to play.
Preston had an eye on the playoffs at one point, but a run of four defeats in their last five has put paid to those hopes of promotion.
The Lilywhites went down 4-0 to Cardiff City in their most recent match - a game in which Paul Gallagher and Ched Evans both missed a penalty with the scoreline at 2-0.
Alex Neil accepted that his side have not been good enough of late, and this could be another tricky test for North End on home soil.
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They have lost nine league matches at Deepdale this season - not since 2010-11, the season they were relegated from the Championship, have they lost more times.
QPR, by comparison, have won three away league games in a row and are looking to win four consecutive away league games for the first time since October 2004.
After beating Bournemouth 2-1 last time out, Warburton will now be hopeful that his side can keep their winning momentum going.
Incidentally, the former Brentford and Nottingham Forest boss has only lost one of his previous seven league games against Preston (W4 D2).
That solitary defeat came in the reverse fixture earlier this season - Preston winning 2-0 at Loftus Road in October to make it seven wins in their last nine meetings with QPR.
Preston North End Championship form: DLLWLL
Queens Park Rangers Championship form: WLWWWW
Team News
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Neil's decision to go with a three-man defence against Cardiff did not pay off, so Preston may revert back to a 4-2-3-1 system on Wednesday.
Anthony Gordon and Scott Sinclair are among those pushing for a recall to the starting lineup, with changes likely to be made.
Evans missed a penalty against Cardiff and has scored in just one of his six games for Preston since joining from Fleetwood Town last month.
As for the visitors, they will be without Luke Amos and Tom Carroll for this midweek trip to Lancashire.
Chris Willock and Sam Field will be hopeful of forcing their way back into the XI, but Warburton may be reluctant to make any tweaks.
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Browne, Lindsay, Storey, Cunningham; Whiteman, Molumby; Sinclair, Johnson, Gordon; Evans
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Barbet, Dickie, Cameron; Kane, Johansen, Field, Wallace; Chair, Willock; Austin
We say: Preston North End 1-1 Queens Park Rangers
QPR are on a fine run of form, particularly away from home, while Preston have lost three of their last four at Deepdale.
The form guide certainly points towards an away win on Wednesday, though North End do boast a good record in this fixture and we can see them stopping the rot with a point.
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 Queens Park Rangers win with a probability of 38.88%. A win for Preston North End had a probability of 34.29% and a draw had a probability of 26.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Queens Park Rangers win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.35%) and 0-2 (6.88%). The likeliest Preston North End win was 1-0 (9.74%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.75%). The actual scoreline of 0-0 was predicted with an 8% likelihood.
