Queens Park Rangers play host to Preston North End on Saturday afternoon looking to strengthen their bid to avoid relegation from the Championship.
At a time when the Hoops sit in 19th position in the standings, Preston are in 10th and all but out of the race for the playoffs.
Match preview
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While Marti Cifuentes deserves to be in the reckoning for manager of the season, QPR still remain under threat when it comes to relegation.
Despite a recent run that saw 17 points collected from eight matches, the West Londoners have since only accumulated one point from three outings.
Although QPR remain as high as 19th, they are still just three points above the relegation zone with Leeds United and Coventry City to follow this contest.
Two of those three games take place at Loftus Road, an obvious positive, but QPR possess the second-worst home record in the division, posting 21 points from as many fixtures.
Furthermore, Cifuentes's side have only scored four times in their last six fixtures, something that will not have gone unnoticed by Preston.
That said, at the same time, the visitors have failed to score in their last two outings, a costly time in the season when they had been on course for the top six.
As well as losing 1-0 to sixth-placed Norwich City, the team holding the position that Preston crave, Ryan Lowe's side went down tamely to Southampton in midweek.
Mathematically, Preston can still catch the Canaries, but they would be required to win their remaining three matches and Norwich lose each of theirs.
With games against Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion remaining on their schedule, that appears unlikely, particularly when Preston have only prevailed at least three times in a row on two occasions all season.
Team News
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Cifuentes will ring the changes to his QPR XI with Jack Colback and Paul Smyth both in contention to start in midfield and on the flank.
Kenneth Paal may be restored at left-back, while Sinclair Armstrong could get the nod over Lyndon Dykes down the centre of the attack.
Several changes will also be made to the Preston starting lineup after Lowe's side found themselves 3-0 down at half time versus Southampton.
Ryan Ledson, Alan Browne and Will Keane can all expect to be selected, with Jack Whatmough, Duane Holmes and Milutin Osmajic potentially dropping out.
Liam Millar, Brad Potts and Ben Whiteman are all in line to miss out through injury.
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Begovic; Dunne, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Fox; Hayden, Field; Willock, Andersen, Chair; Dykes
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Browne, Ledson, Mawene, Brady; Frokjaer-Jensen; Riis, Keane
We say: Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Preston North End
With neither side having impressed of late, this is a difficult fixture to predict. However, with home territory in their favour, we will edge towards QPR, who will hope to put themselves on the brink of survival.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
