Queens Park Rangers make the short trip to face Millwall at The Den on Tuesday evening looking to bounce back from their shock defeat to Barnsley at the weekend.
Although the away side still occupy fourth position in the Championship standings, they will be wary of a Millwall side who have improved in recent games, keeping them within touching distance of mid-table.
Match preview
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When QPR recently made it six wins from seven games in all competitions, there was every expectation that they would prolong that form with Peterborough United and Barnsley featuring in their schedule.
However, having gone down 2-0 to Posh in the FA Cup fourth round, Mark Warburton has witnessed his team twice give up a lead at home to Middlesbrough and lose at bottom-of-the-table Tykes.
QPR remain in a relatively strong position given that they are still fourth and have a five-point lead over seventh, but several clubs behind them have far greater momentum.
While Warburton will not panic at this stage given the continuation of a favourable fixture list, he is aware that they must get back to winning ways as soon as possible if they want to hold an advantage over the chasing pack.
On the plus side, a four-match winning streak on the road is still fresh in their memory, and the extra desire which comes with a derby could motivate them to produce a much-improved performance on Tuesday.
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From Millwall's perspective, they are on the cusp of being out of the playoff race, but prevailing from this game would be the first step to gaining respect from the teams above them.
After starting 2022 with four successive defeats in all competitions, Gary Rowett's side have since posted two wins and a draw from their last four outings.
Their solitary defeat came at leaders Fulham, and Rowett will prefer to focus on the positives which have come from the home wins over West Bromwich Albion and Cardiff City.
That said, the Lions have still only scored in two of their last six games, while you have to go back to the FA Cup tie with Crystal Palace on January 8 for the last time that they netted a first-half goal.
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Team News
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George Saville and Mason Bennett will both expect to return to the Millwall XI after their contribution from the substitutes' bench against Cardiff.
Billy Mitchell and Oliver Burke are most likely to miss out, but the remainder of the team could stay the same.
However, Warburton will ring the changes to his QPR starting lineup with Stefan Johansen and Charlie Austin in line for recalls.
Jeff Hendrick and Andre Gray could make way for the pair, while Albert Adomah is also an option in one of the wing-back positions.
Despite the defeat, the back three could stay the same, meaning that Wolverhampton Wanderers Dion Sanderson will stay among the replacements.
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Hutchinson, Cooper, Wallace; McNamara, Kieftenbeld, Saville, Malone; Wallace; Bennett, Afobe
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Marshall; Dickie, Dunne, Barbet; Odubajo, Johansen, Field, Wallace; Chair; Austin, Dykes
We say: Millwall 1-1 Queens Park Rangers
QPR may be feeling the pressure ahead of this contest, aware that they can ill-afford many more dropped points in the short term if they want to remain in the hunt for the top two. When combining that with Millwall being back on an upward trend, this London derby could end level.
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 Millwall win with a probability of 39.06%. A win for Queens Park Rangers had a probability of 32.61% and a draw had a probability of 28.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Millwall win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.22%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.02%) and 2-0 (7.41%). The likeliest Queens Park Rangers win was 0-1 (10.9%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.22%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Millwall would win this match.
