QPR v Reading – Preview

This Saturday QPR welcome fellow hooped rivals Reading to Loftus Road in what should be interesting match-up between two experienced Championship sides with aspirations of promotion.

Last week against Burnley, QPR got drawn into a long ball match and without the aerial prowess of front man Heider Helguson the R’s attack was somewhat impotent and lacked a focal point. That said there were some positives from that match, the defence looked solid and Paddy Kenny made an excellent save in the first half.

QPR will need a repeat performance from their talismanic figure Adel Taarabt. In the first half against Burnley Taarabt produced some of his excellent early season form and scored a fantastic goal, more of the same will be required if the R’s are to shake off their winless run.

Reading are another one of those teams that seem to epitomise the unpredictability of the Championship. After successive defeats to Bristol City and Swansea their last two games has seen The Royals win 4-0 and 4-3 to Burnley and Doncaster respectively.

They have some fine wingers at this level in Jobi McAnuff and Jimmy Kebe plus a natural finisher in Shane Long who will cause headaches for any back four in this division. Good news for Reading fans as Long signed a new contract this week in a deal which keeps him at the club until 2012.

Last Fixture

QPR 1 (Taarabt)
Burnley 1 (Alexander pen)

Team: Kenny, Hill, Connolly, Gorkss, Walker, Derry, Ephraim (Agyemang), Taarabt (Smith) Faurlin, Mackie, Hulse (Clarke)

Reading 4 (Mills, Karacan, Harte, Church)
Doncaster 3

Team: Federici, Mills, Harte, Griffin, Khizanishvili, McAnuff, Tabb (Hunt), Howard, Karacan, Robson-Kanu (Antonio), Long (Church)

QPR Team News:

Hungarian midfielder Akos Buzsaky has been ruled out for up to 5 weeks after he was told he will require knee surgery to correct an injury sustained in the match against Norwich.

Latest signing Georgios Tofas is out with a minor hamstring injury. Gavin Mahon is also a doubt with a similar hamstring complaint.

Rob Hulse is expected to start upfront again as Heider Helguson is a major doubt with a shoulder and neck injury. The Iceman has not responded as well as hoped to his treatment and is likely to once again miss out.

Martin Rowlands should be included on the bench alongside Mikele Leigertwood, Patrick Agyemang, Leon Clarke, Radek Cerny, Tommy Smith and Bradley Orr.

Possible line-up:

Player to watch: Paddy Kenny

As the season has progressed there have been players that have started well but have subsequently faded but Paddy Kenny along with Kaspars Gorkss has improved game by game. The Halifax born shot-stopper has been nothing short of a revelation in between the sticks this season, not only does he possess excellent reflexes he organises the back four superbly, praising and criticising the defence when necessary. In my opinion he is one of the best in the league along with Lee Grant, David James and Kaspar Schmeichel.

Kenny started his career at non-league outfit Bradford Park Avenue before joining Bury in 1998. After making 145 appearances for Bury the Irish international joined Neil Warnock`s Sheffield United on loan before signing permanently. Kenny played over 240 times for the Blades and in that time won player of year in 2003.

A career that has had the occasional moment of controversy off the pitch Kenny was banned from football for nine months after testing positive for Ephedrine, a banned substance found in cough medicine.

After returning from his ban Kenny played for Sheffield United twice at the back end of last season and kept two clean sheets against Swansea and Ipswich.

Reading Team News:

Winger Jimmy Kebe is unavailable due to a knee injury which has kept him out of the last two matches. Hal Robson-Kanu is expected to deputise.

Irish striker Noel Hunt is pushing for a start as is the in-form Simon Church who has scored two goals in as many games.

Experienced midfielder Brynjar Gunnarsson is out with a hamstring injury so Brian Howard, Jem Karacan and Jay Tabb should start in midfield.

Possible line-up:

Player to watch: Jimmy Kebe

Jimmy Kebe has been identified by DanielQPR as the player to watch ahead of this weekend`s match against Reading.

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