High-flying Rangers look to break into top two with win in West London derby

Queens Park Rangers will be presented with the chance to go second in the Championship table should they prevail over local rivals Brentford on Monday night.

This West London derby should promise plenty of excitement for the neutral as two expansive side meet at the Kiyan Prince Community Stadium.

Thomas Frank stated in his pre-match press conference that he would be take a 4-3 win from the game and with attacking trio Ollie Watkins, Said Benrahma and Bryan Mbuemo, Brentford fans will be confident of causing QPR problems defensively.

Incredibly, QPR remain the only team in the top four divisions of English football not to have kept a clean sheet this season, scoring and conceding 23 goals at both ends.

It is somewhat surprising then that Mark Warburton’s team have the opportunity to propel themselves from eighth to second should they overcome the Bees.

The R’s will be hopeful of getting back to winning ways after a midweek draw against Reading whilst Brentford are looking to record a third-consecutive victory when they visit W12.

Team news

The home side will be without one of their scorers from Tuesday’s draw with Reading after Jordan Hugill picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign.

Brentford are expected to name the same team who won convincingly at Swansea with Luka Racic and Sergi Canos continuing their recoveries on the sidelines.

Former Bees boss Mark Warburton spoke to qpr.co.uk about the impressive start his side have made to the season:

“The players have done really well and 13 games in is a big chunk of the season gone – over 25 per cent – and soon we’ll be at a third.

“The games start to fly by now and we are where we are because of the players. You have to recognise how hard they have worked.

“Players here like Toni, Grant and Angel will have seen good friends depart in the summer and we had 15 new faces arrive who all needed to bond and get to know each other.

“That unity and camaraderie had to be built and we also had to deal with being one of the pundits’ favourites to be relegated.

“It is a new squad still and I guarantee you that we will have really good days and some not-so-good days. It’s about us being the best we can in every single game.”

Brentford boss Thomas Frank spoke about the feelings his players can expect ahead of a derby match:

“When they step on the pitch, they will know the atmosphere from the first second. We hope we will have a sellout at the away end and it means everything to us. We know QPR are potentially our biggest rivals in terms of history, so keeping the momentum with another win means everything for us”

Head-to-head

This fixture has always been fiercely competed and the two teams’ records are very similar with Brentford just edging games won with 27 to QPR’s 23 along with 24 draws.