QPR vs Sunderland Betting Pick | English Premier

English Premier

2011-12-21 - QPR vs Sunderland

A Sports Betting Pick by Auls

QPR v Sunderland
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 21 December 2011 - Kick Off 8pm

QPR

QPR were surprisingly poor on Sunday when they entertained Manchester United and you can imagine that the management staff are looking forward to the opening of the January transfer window to strengthen a team that has begun to slide down the table. Neil Warnock has already mentioned meeting with the owners with his 'wanted' list of players, but he will want to pick some points in the next 3 games before reinforcements can arrive.

Rangers have fallen to 15th in the Premier League table following the defeat to Manchester United and they have picked up 16 points so far this season, only 3 more than Wigan in 18th spot. They have struggled at Loftus Road, compiling a 1-4-3 record, scoring 6 goals and conceding 12, making them the lowest home scorers in the League so far.

The defeat to Manchester United would have been expected from the supporters, but there has to be a slight concern from the ease in which they were brushed aside. That was also their 3rd defeat in the last 4 games, and they have picked up just 4 points from the last 21 on offer. QPR have not won in 3 games at home since beating Chelsea in October, and they have lost 2 of those games albeit to the Manchester clubs.

Anton Ferdinand is doubtful having missed the game on Sunday, while Danny Gabbidon is expected to recover from a knock and take part. Jay Bothroyd picked up a knee injury in the game against United and looks doubtful with DJ Campbell coming in.

Sunderland

Martin O'Neill picked up 3 points in his first game in charge of Sunderland, but has now been handed his first loss as the side went down at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Sunderland put in a solid performance in that game as they looked to stifle the Spurs attack, but they failed to trouble Brad Friedal enough to sneak a point.

It was clear to O'Neill that there was a tough job to do as he took over a side short of confidence and struggling in the League. The win over Blackburn in his first game moved the side out of the relegation zone, but they remain in 16th place and are only 1 point above Wigan in 18th. Sunderland are 1-2-5 away from home this season, scoring 6 goals but only conceding 9 giving them the joint 4th best away defence in the League so far.

Sunderland have lost 3 of their last 4 games in the Premier League, the exception being the 2-1 win over Blackburn. That is their sole success in the last 7 games in the Premier League and they have really struggled away from home. The team have lost 5 of their last 6 away games in the League, the sole exception being a 0-2 win at Bolton Wanderers.

Michael Turner will be missing until the middle of January, but there are no other new injury worries from the weekend game. Martin O'Neill has admitted he is trying to contact Asamoah Gyan to return to the side, but he would not be available until January at the earliest.

Head to Head

QPR and Sunderland have not met since the 2006/07 season when both were in the Championship.

Sunderland have won 3 of their last 4 visits to Loftus Road, the other being a 2-2 draw.

Prediction

This looks like being a tight, low-scoring affair, as neither side has been troubling the scoreboard with any kind of regularity in their home and away games respectively.

QPR have really had a hard time winning games at home where the onus is on them to come out and attack teams and they have not reached the heights of beating Chelsea in their subsequent games here. Rangers did push Manchester City, but their performance on Sunday was very disappointing when allowing Manchester United to have their way with ease for much of the game.

Sunderland are playing like a team that is very much geared to picking up points in any way possible. They set out to be hard to beat at Tottenham and it almost worked for them, so much so that I would be surprised if they are much more expansive here. Martin O'Neill knows he has to do whatever it takes to avoid the drop this season and I think he will see this as a good point to pick up if they can manage that.

The Black Cats have not been beaten easily by any team this season as they can be quite disciplined in defence and I can see them making it tough for QPR to get ahead of steam. In saying that, I am not convinced they have enough goals in the side to secure the 3 points, so I am going to have a small interest in this ending in a stalemate.

The Statistics :

QPR LAST SIX HOME FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-12-18	L	0-2	H v Man_Utd
	2011-12-03	D	1-1	H v WBA
	2011-11-05	L	2-3	H v Man_City
	2011-10-23	W	1-0	H v Chelsea
	2011-10-15	D	1-1	H v Blackburn
	2011-09-25	D	1-1	H v Aston_Villa

SUNDERLAND LAST SIX AWAY FORM
	DATE	RESULT		OPPOSITION
	2011-12-18	L	1-0	A v Tottenham
	2011-12-04	L	2-1	A v Wolves
	2011-11-05	L	1-0	A v Man_Utd
	2011-10-22	W	0-2	A v Bolton
	2011-10-16	L	2-1	A v Arsenal
	2011-09-26	L	2-1	A v Norwich