QPR v West Brom: Baggies underrated ahead of Loftus Road trip
Published:QPR and West Brom are both sitting marginally below the halfway point in the table, so a victory in their Saturday afternoon collision could catapult either into the top half…
Match odds
A fairly comfortable mid-table position a third of the way into their Premier League return would have delighted most QPR fans in pre-season, however the primary reason for that success has been a highly impressive away record.
The Hoops have won three times on their travels compared to just once in six home games, and that one win at Loftus Road came 1-0 against a Chelsea side who played with nine men for 49 minutes.
That result reflects a tendency to save their best performances for the more high-profile fixtures, whereas they have prevailed in only one of their five clashes with bottom-eight teams, losing three of those.
Inconsistency and a rather tricky opening period have adversely affected West Brom thus far, but there are several indicators to hint that they are better than their current standing of 14th implies.
They have triumphed three times in a drawless six-match sequence featuring excusable losses to Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, so appear generously priced at 11/5 to deliver on the road for the fifth time in Roy Hodgson’s brief tenure.
Other markets
The majority of QPR’s outings as hosts have finished with under 2.5 goals but the two exceptions came when they tasted defeat, and West Brom will be confident of adding to that as just one of their six away ties have had two or fewer.
Overs therefore looks the way to go at evens, and it has to be noted that while Neil Warnock’s men have struggled in front of their fans, they have scored in each of their last four at home. It is 8/11 that both teams score, with the visitors 11/1 to win 2-1.
