QPR BOSS, Julian Stephan, will make sure his players are up for the task in this London derby and despite how the game goes, hopes his team will “keep fighting, competing and trying to change the momentum.”
His team are sat in 11th place and they travel to fellow London side Charlton Athletic for a Friday night fixture at The Valley!
He continued “It’s a London derby, so it will probably be a physical game, long balls, second balls, chaotic moments. We need to be ready for the fight and the battle, but we must not forget it’s a football game as well.
“When the players deserve strong support, they always get it. It starts with how we play, the energy, quality, character and personality we show on the pitch.
“Even when you are one or two goals down, you have to keep fighting, competing and trying to change the momentum.”
In the reverse fixture back on matchday four at Loftus Road, it was QPR who took the victory that day, winning 3-1 with goals from Paul Smyth, Koki Saito and Richard Kone. The Charlton goal was scored by winger, Rob Apter, who is now on loan at Bolton in League One.
In his pre-match press conference, Charlton manager Nathan Jones did speak about the reverse fixture saying his team “needed to do better in the first ten minutes”.
“At QPR away we felt we should have done better. We didn’t handle the first ten minutes well, but then we controlled the game for long periods.
“Championship football is about margins and we didn’t come out on the right side. Of course we want to put that right, but there’s no bigger motivation than winning a home game and getting three points.”
The possession stats from that game back up what Jones was saying with Charlton having 56% of the ball but ultimately, the scoreline is the only ‘stat’ that matters.
Coming into this game, Charlton have won two of their last five games, with those wins coming at home against nine-men Sheffield United (1-0), and away at ten-man Leicester City (0-2) in their last outing.
The Addicks’ other three fixtures were losses, one in the FA Cup Third Round against Chelsea at home, losing 1-5, and the other two being in the Championship, suffering losses at home against Derby (1-2), and local rivals Millwall (4-0).
The Hoops haven’t had much better luck in their last five games, with two losses, two draws and a win, but that win came last time out against league leaders Coventry City at home (2-1).
Like Charlton, QPR had an FA Cup exit against a Premier League team, but in their case, it was away against West Ham, losing 2-1. Other results include two goalless draws in back-to-back away fixtures against Stoke and Oxford.
Their loss was against Wrexham at home 2-3, where they conceded two stoppage time goals including a thunderbolt from Wrexham midfielder Oliver Rathbone.
People usually say that form goes out the window in derby games but between these two sides there isn’t much form between them so it’s either going to be a high scoring game or a goalless draw, no in-between.
COMPARING THE STATS (all competitions)
| Charlton Athletic | QPR | |
| 32 | Matches Played | 32 |
| 34 | Goals scored | 45 |
| 47 | Goals conceded | 48 |
| -13 | GD | -3 |
| 9 | Clean sheets | 8 |
