- Ipswich have an impressive home record in the Championship this season with 13 wins, 8 draws and 1 defeat from 22 matches.
- QPR have won only 6 of their 22 away Championship games this season, drawing 7 and losing 9.
- Jack Clarke has scored 16 goals in 45 Championship appearances this term and has been Ipswich’s talisman in recent weeks.
Tractor Boys are on the charge
Ipswich Town are clear 23/100 favourites to win Saturday’s Championship clash against Queens Park Rangers at Portman Road, but QPR are significant underdogs for a reason.
Rangers have lost three in a row and are winless in their last five, although they have picked up two draws during that run. Results at this late stage of the season cannot be ignored, however, and Julien Stephan’s men have only collected 58 points after 45 games, which leaves them 14th in the table.
Ipswich are second with 81 points and they will win this if they play to their best. Kieran McKenna’s team have been by far the best in the division in terms of attacking flair and energy, playing a high-octane game with a vertical emphasis and pressing heavily on the wings.
They have a talisman in Jack Clarke, who has scored 16 Championship goals in 45 appearances and is always a threat to find the net.
Rangers are in a rut
McKenna’s men have won one, drawn three and lost one of their last five, but they are unbeaten in three with a gritty 2-2 draw at Southampton followed by a 1-2 away win at Charlton Athletic. It is probably no coincidence that the one game they have failed to win in their last home game was against QPR.
Julien Stephan is a clever and flexible coach who has brought his pragmatic approach to Rangers this term, emphasising structured pressing and verticality through the middle of the park. He is trying to make a square peg fit into a round hole at a club that likes to play a different way, but it is working.
Richard Kone has been a revelation up front this year with 10 goals in 43 Championship games - more than any other Ranger - and is QPR’s main threat on the break. Stephan’s approach will make it difficult for McKenna’s side to break QPR down in this one, but Rangers’ blunt attack will have a tough time against one of the Championship’s best defensive sides.
Tractor Boys should be too strong
Ipswich have conceded only 17 goals in 22 home games and, although they are not the highest scorers in the league, should be able to grind out a win. QPR average only 0.95 goals per game away from home in the Championship and concede 1.50 per game, which makes the ‘Both teams to score - No’ market at 4/5 appealing.
However, the clash of two such diametrically opposed philosophies on the verge of two clubs’ seasons could turn this into a tactical chess match where the Tractor Boys’ aggression and superior quality should see them home.
