Friday, December 5, 2014

Burnley, QPR relegation survival battle

Two of the promoted Barclays Premier League teams meet on Saturday as Queens Park Rangers host Burnley.
Both teams clinched promotion from the Championship last term - Burnley finished runners-up behind Leicester City while QPR won a dramatic play-off final against Derby County at Wembley Stadium.
All three respective newcomers are in the relegation zone but, with just six points separating the bottom nine clubs, both teams know victory at Loftus Road could see them climb the table and put a healthier perspective on things.
The corresponding fixture last season ended in a thrilling 3-3 draw and QPR manager Harry Redknapp is expecting another evenly-matched affair, with neither squad showing many changes from their Championship personnel.
"There's not much in it," he said. "You look at the teams, Burnley are very much the same team, [manager] Sean [Dyche] did an amazing job with them.
"And we're the same. The other night eight of our 11 were in the Championship last year. None of us have changed that much, the majority are still the same ones that came up.
"He [Dyche] has done a great job. He knows the game and he's a very positive guy.
"I've been impressed with him, I think he's done smashing. They've got goals in the team with [striker Danny] Ings, but we're at home and we're very good at home."
QPR will be hoping to bounce back from Tuesday's 2-0 defeat at Swansea City, a result that made it seven losses out of seven on the road in the league for 2014-15.
Redknapp will look to former Burnley striker Charlie Austin to provide his side's major goal threat, the 25-year-old having netted six times in his past nine BPL outings, including in each of the last three home matches.
Burnley, meanwhile, extended their unbeaten run to four matches with a 1-1 home draw with Newcastle United in midweek and goalscorer George Boyd is in positive mood ahead of the weekend's trip to London.
"The belief is there," he told burnleyfootballclub.com.
"We're unbeaten in four and we've got another game on Saturday to try and get another three points.
"It's a huge game. In our mini-league at the bottom they're the games we need to pick up points and it will be a cracking game.
"We'll go there full of confidence and try and get three points."
Burnley will be without defensive duo Michael Duff (calf) and Stephen Ward (ankle), while striker Sam Vokes played 70 minutes and scored twice for the club's development squad in midweek as he continues his recovery from a knee injury. Matt Taylor (Achilles) will also miss out.
Long-term absentees Sandro and Alejandro Faurlin (both knee) remain unavailable for QPR.
QPR (from): Green, McCarthy, Murphy, Caulker, Dunne, Ferdinand, Hill, Isla, Onuoha, Traore, Yun, Barton, Fer, Henry, Hoilett, Kranjcar, Mutch, Phillips, Wright-Phillips, Austin, Vargas,  Zamora.
Burnley (from): Gilks, Heaton, Keane, Lafferty, Long, Mee, Reid, Shackell, Trippier, Arfield, Boyd, Chalobah,  Howieson, Jones, Kightly, Marney, Wallace, Barnes, Ings, Jutkiewicz, Sordell.
Match Appointments
Referee: Jonathan Moss
Assistants: S Long, D Eaton

Fourth Official: C Foy

No comments:

Post a Comment

drop your comment about your football hero, their fashion style, like who dresses most, who drink most ,who hang out most like going to club , who plays with woman most and so on