After a disappointing 2-1 loss to Norwich, Dean Smith’s Aston Villa will be hoping to bounce back against QPR at 7:45pm at Loftus Road.
A 1-0 win over Swansea, followed by a 2-1 defeat to Norwich kicks off the new reign of former Brentford boss Dean Smith following his appointment.
The claret and blues, who currently sit in 16th have had a mixed start to the season. Whilst the Villians haven’t been abysmal, a slow start to the season led to, then boss, Steve Bruce’s expected sacking following a 3-3 draw against Preston North End.
Meanwhile, Steve Maclaren’s QPR has had similarly mixed fortune, currently sat in 13th the Hoops have enjoyed six wins under the former Newcastle manager. Yet also six losses with two draws filling in the blanks.
QPR’s curfrent red hot form can be attributed to the goalscoring form of Brighton Loanee Tomer Hemed, who has scored two in his last four outings and is the clear danger man for the Hoops. So it is no suprise that the R’s are unbeaten in four games.
Despite his 6ft’ frame the Israelian forward manages to bring in the likes of Luke Freeman and Luongo making QPR a more dangerous unit overall.
For the clarets the danger man has to be Tammy Abraham, scoring three in his last four outings the English forward is the frontman Villians fans have been crying out for since the loss of Christian Benteke in 2015.
Abraham, who joined the Clarets and Blues from Chelsea in the summer transfer window has added that extra dimension to Villa that Steve Bruce desperately needed throughout his Villa Tenure.
In this already highly contested match history favours Dean Smith’s side, in 58 meetings it was the Villians that just edge it on 24 wins to the West Londoner’s 21 wins; not to mention 13 draws accumulated in the process.
The last time the two former Premier League clubs met, in the Championship it ended in a 3-1 win for the West Midlands club. Yet prior to that QPR had emerged victorious winning the 3 previous meetings.
QPR are currently the bookmaker’s favourites sat on 7/4 odds, meanwhile, Aston Villa are currently on 4/7 odds of emerging the victors.
Should Dean Smith manage to gain all 3 points against his former club’s bitter rivals it would propel the Villians into 9th, ahead of Swansea City on goal difference. But should the Villians lose it could see Aston Villa tumble even further down the table.
