In a fixture packed full of importance at the bottom of the division, Stoke City will welcome Queens Park Rangers to the bet365 Stadium on Wednesday night in the Championship.
The Potters’ woeful run of form continued at managerless Blackburn Rovers on Saturday, whereas the R’s managed to grab a point from their contest with Norwich City on the same day.
Suffering their fourth-straight defeat in the Championship since the narrow success at relegation-threatened Rotherham United, Stoke have 37 minutes of first-half nightmares to blame as they returned from Ewood Park with no points, despite Niall Ennis‘s maiden goal for the club.
Lively attacker Tyrhys Dolan bagged a brace for Damien Johnson‘s Rovers and the division’s leading goalscorer Sammie Szmodics only breached the net of Daniel Iversen, giving the visiting Potters a mountain to climb – one which proved too steep for a side who have won just two of their last 17 second-tier matches.
Steven Schumacher was drafted in from Plymouth Argyle to get Stoke moving towards the top-six conversation in the Championship, but a poor run of results leaves Wednesday’s hosts in 20th place, just three points ahead of 22nd-placed QPR with 15 games of the campaign left to go.
The vast majority of the Potters’ January business revolved around recruiting forward options, although it now appears that their defence is in desperate need of attention, with Stoke conceding 13 goals during their last four contests which all ended in disappointing defeat.
Arriving from Portuguese outfit Maritimo in the summer transfer window, winger Andre Vidigal has netted five Championship goals in 23 appearances so far in 2023-24 and currently leads his side’s Golden Boot race, with Ryan Mmaee the only other Potters man to have scored more than two league goals.
After a seven-game spell without tasting victory in the Championship, Queens Park Rangers have clawed themselves back into contention for second-tier survival thanks to the collection of eight points from their last four league matches, including a share of the spoils against Norwich last time out.
The Canaries hit the front in the second period as strikes from Kenny McLean and American Josh Sargent cancelled out Jack Colback‘s opener, but the R’s did not settle for a harmful loss, with January arrivals Lucas Andersen and Michael Frey linking up to score an equaliser.
With Millwall, Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town and Wednesday’s opponents Stoke all suffering defeat on the weekend, Marti Cifuentes‘s side are on the verge of breaking out of the shackles of the bottom three, sitting just two points behind the 21st-placed Terriers ahead of a trip to the bet365 Stadium.
Apart from the £1.5m signing of Swiss striker Frey from Royal Antwerp, the R’s have operated in the free and loan markets to give themselves a boost in the race for second-tier safety, with Joe Hodge and Isaac Hayden joining from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Newcastle United respectively.
Despite QPR possessing the attacking talents of Ilias Chair, Chris Willock and Lyndon Dykes within their West London ranks, full-back Kenneth Paal is currently the club’s leading marksman in the Championship, scoring four times in 31 games – his best-ever single-season return.
