What could be worse for a struggling team than to meet an inform Manchester United side – well aside from running around the field naked with the opposing teams big fluffy mascot chasing you, in front of the away fans on a freezing cold Saturday afternoon that is – things are looking pretty bleak for QPR and their manager Harry Redknapp.
While the two managers have a good relationship, Alex Ferguson is not about to court the under pressure manager by fielding a weekend team. Fergie is intent on reclaiming the Premier league title and stretch his lead over rivals Manchester City to a massive fifteen points.
In theory QPR should not present too many problems for the Red Devils, while Ferguson is without several key players due to sickness and injury, QPR are anchored to the bottom of the table, seven points from safety and have not scored at home in the Premier League since December 26th 2012.
Match facts:
The Venue: Loftus Road, London
Last Season: QPR 0 Man Utd 2
QPR form guide: LDDDDW
Man Utd form guide: WWWDWW
QPR leading scorer: Taarabt, Zamora 4
Man Utd leading scorer: Van Persie 19
Possible Team Line-ups:
QPR 4-3-3: Cesar, Samba, Hill, Onuoha, Traore, Derry, Mbia, Jenas, Taarabt, Zamora, Townsend
QPR subs from: Green, Murphy, Ben Haim, Yun, Bosingwa, Diakité, Granero, Park, Rémy, Hoilett, Wright-Phillips, Mackie, Bothroyd
QPR injuries: Bosingwa (back), Júlio César (groin), Hoilett (hamstring), Rémy (groin), Zamora (hip) Johnson (knee, Apr)
Man Utd: 4-2-1-3: De Gea, Evans, Ferdinand, Da Silva, Evra, Cleverley, Carrick, Welbeck, Young, Van Persie, Valencia
Man Utd subs from: Johnstone, Lindegaard, Buttner, Powell, Anderson, Hernández, Smalling, Vidic, Giggs, Nani, Kagawa
Man Utd injuries: Jones (ankle, 2 Mar), Rooney (illness, 2 Mar), Scholes (knee, 9 Mar), Fletcher (bowel, Aug)
Match Stats:
- QPR have not won against United in any competition since their 4-1 victory at Old Trafford on 1 January 1992.
- Only one team in Premier League history have picked up more points from their first 26 games than United this season (Chelsea – 66 in the 2005-06 season)
- QPR have needed an average of 16.42 shots at goal to score so far in 2012-13, the worst ratio in the top flight
- Robin van Persie has scored United's earliest (32sec) and latest (91min 43 sec) Premier League goals this season
- QPR have been caught offside on more occasions (76) than any other team in the division (source, guardiannews.com)
No doubt the two managers – Harry and Fergie – will share a bottle of wine after the game, but there will certainly be no love lost.
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