EFL specialist James O'Rourke (@JamesOR1) shares his thoughts ahead of Friday night's Championship clash between West Brom and QPR.
West Brom v QPR | Friday 24th September 2021, 20:00 | Sky Sports
As far as Friday night viewing from the Championship goes, West Brom versus QPR I would say is a must-watch for all football fans this week. With both enjoying positive starts to the season, both outfits will go all-out for the three points in this one, in what is likely to be an end-to-end contest.
I say end-to-end with good reason. Both coaches clearly have an attack-minded approach to matters and although on paper this is a tough clash for both, they won’t necessarily change their way of playing. That is despite West Brom suffering a rather frustrating three draws in succession, but Valérien Ismaël has taken solace from the fact they are at least creating chances, but does clearly state they must improve their end product sooner rather than later.
It was back-to-back defeats for QPR prior to their Carabao Cup encounter with Everton in midweek. An away loss at Bournemouth is no disgrace, but a home setback to Bristol City is the kind of result which has held them back having a real promotion push in recent seasons.
It was something of a cup thriller at Loftus Road on Tuesday as the R’s edged out the Toffees on penalties. Following a tough night they’ll have to go again quickly against one of the toughest Championship opponents, so WBA having a free week to prepare certainly gives them an advantage here.
Whilst this is essentially 3rd versus 8th in the English second-tier on Friday, both are situated in the top-four in the division in relation to average shots on goal. As mentioned, they’ll both have a go, but perhaps another big tick in favour of Friday’s home team is that WBA have conceded the fewest average shots on goal in the league.
For all that they are an ‘up-and-at-em’ kind of team going forward, they clearly do a decent job at the back too, and that is despite missing the likes of Dara O’Shea and Matt Clarke through injury.
The Baggies are at least creating chances for all that they’ve scored just three in their last four games, and you’d suspect they’ll sharpen up on that sooner rather than later. The issue for QPR is that practically every game they play turns into a basketball game where it is essentially a ‘you attack, we attack’ kind of approach.
Of course, they are work in any one-off game, but West Brom being as solid defensively as they are I think is why they are rightly the favourites for three points in this one. I like QPR, but I still have my doubts about their possible promotions credentials. They’re in and around it right now, but you feel they need to have a good Christmas period to enable them to have a real go in the latter parts of the campaign.
West Brom though are odds-on to win here, and that offers little appeal considering they’ve drawn three in a row. We’ll have to find some additional value here, as I do think they are the ones to side with here, even if only just.
I think bet-builder is the way to go here and there is a three-in-one play which I’m happy to throw forward for a bit of interest. West Brom to win and both teams to score is part of the equation. You only get 9/4 for this duo alone which isn’t enough for me, so I wanted to add Jordan Hugill Anytime Scorer to the mix, which prices everything together nicely at 9/2 (Bet365).
BTTS has paid off in QPR’s last four games and I can only see this being another end-to-end game. Hugill gets the nod for scoring purposes as he is already averaging 2.5 shots per game despite only starting once since joining on loan.
Best Bets
West Brom v QPR – West Brom to Win, Both Teams to Score and Jordan Hugill Anytime Scorer (9/2 Bet365)
