STB’s Match Preview: QPR

By Aston
February 25 2005

Ipswich Town can regain top spot in the championship with a win against Queens Park Rangers at Portman Road tomorrow.

Ipswich Town can regain top spot in the championship with a win against Queens Park Rangers at Portman Road tomorrow.

Town manager Joe Royle is with out Shefki Kuqi who is still recovering from surgery on muscle above his knee. Darren Bent, Fabian Wilnis and Kevin Horlock are all included in the squad despite all having minor injuries. Striker Pablo Couñago returns to the squad and may partner James Scowcroft up front if Bent fails to pass fit. If Fabian is forced to miss out Danny Karbassiyoon may play as a right back.

Town manager Joe Royle: “QPR have had a great season. They have come up with minimal spending and at one stage they were threatening the top six regularly. We saw Paul Furlong score with two terrific strikes against us and they have danger in the side.

“They are similar to Watford in as much as it is a dangerous side. They have had some great results but at times I have seen Ollie (Ian Holloway) quoted as saying they have let themselves down.

“We will treat them with all respect but it is a game we expect to win as we expect to win all our home games.”

Town squad: Darren Bent, Dean Bowditch, Pablo Couñago, Darren Currie, Kelvin Davis, Jason De Vos, Kevin Horlock, Daniel Karbassiyoon, Jim Magilton, Tommy Miller, Richard Naylor, Lewis Price, Matt Richards, James Scowcroft, David Unsworth, Ian Westlake, Fabian Wilnis.

QPR boss Ian Holloway has a near fully fit squad to choose from but he is expected to use the same squad that drew with Wolves in midweek but may shuffle the team a bit with players coming off the bench from the wolves game and starting this one.

One player who is hoping to start is former Town defender George Santos and he gives us this weeks view from the other side.

Santos: “They will be a difficult team to break down and it will be a hard game.

“There will be a lot of pressure on them to win after losing to Watford on Tuesday. The fans will expect them to win and that will make it tougher for us.

“You never know, they could be a bit shaky, but with the experience they have there, they can handle the pressure.”

Santos went on to add: “We can't afford to give Ipswich a good start. They will be a tough team to come from behind against. The first 10 or 15 minutes will be pivotal to the outcome of the game.

“We will have to concentrate and make sure that we play some good football and keep it that way for 90 minutes.

“We started well against Preston and Wolves and twice lost our lead - we have to make sure that doesn't happen again.

“We really need our fans behind us, we want them to play their role in the game and help to lift us. You can't play beautiful football all of the time, but we still need their help and hopefully we will come good.”

Other games for Town fans to keep an eye this weekend would be Wigan’s trip to Gillingham and Sunderland playing host to Cardiff.

Sources: EADT and QPR.co.uk

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