QPR vs Chelsea: Premier League match preview
A look ahead to this weekend's Premier League fixture at Loftus Road
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Your support makes all the difference.This derby may be billed as a starter to the mid-afternoon main course in Manchester, but there is arguably much more riding on this lunchtime kick-off.
Chelsea will arrive hoping to collect three of the fifteen points they require to win the title. Victory for Queens Park Rangers, meanwhile, would not only halt the charge of their West London rivals, but also boost their hopes of survival.
Chris Ramsey will be more confident of an upset than he was this time last week, encouraged by his side’s away performances in their victory over West Bromwich Albion and the pulsating draw against Aston Villa.
However, if the past week has been about heroics on the road, this Sunday presents an opportunity for the R’s to arrest their worrying home form. They have lost their last five games at Loftus Road, despite picking up three-quarters of their points there over the course of the whole season.
The Blues, on the other hand, will expect to take all three points. Diego Costa is likely to miss out with a hamstring injury, so they will be hoping Loic Remy can build on his two goals in the last two games and punish his former paymasters.
KICK-OFF: Sunday, 1:30pm
PAST MEETINGS…
Chelsea (Oscar, Hazard) 2-1 Queens Park Rangers (Austin), Premier League, November 2014
Chelsea 0-1 Queens Park Rangers (Wright-Phillips), Premier League, January 2013
Queens Park Rangers 0-0 Chelsea, Premier League, September 2012
STATS…
QPR have not won in their last 12 Premier League London derbies, drawing three and losing nine. Their last win came against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea have scored first in 24 of their 30 league games this season, while QPR have conceded the opening goal 23 times in the same number of fixtures.
Matt Phillips has registered the joint second-highest number of assists of any player on the continent in 2015. His total of seven ties him with Wolfsburg’s Kevin de Bruyne, with only Barcelona’s Lionel Messi ahead of him.
Chelsea have only beaten QPR away from home once in the Premier League before. This solitary victory at Loftus Road came in January 1996, courtesy of a late Paul Furlong goal.
This will be Chelsea’s 700th game since Roman Ambramovich’s takeover of the club in 2003.
ODDS…
Queens Park Rangers to win: 9.00
Chelsea to win: 1.40
Draw: 5.00
TV: Live on Sky Sports 1 at 1.30pm, highlights on BBC1 at 10.30pm
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