This weekend's Friday night match in the Championship is a West London derby between Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.

Both sides are enduring mini-slumps and will be desperate to get back to winning ways at Craven Cottage.

Fulham

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After finally seeming to find their feet with three wins in a row in all competitions, Kit Symons's Fulham have lost back-to-back games to have their bubble burst.

On Saturday they became the first team to lose to Sheffield Wednesday in the league since the opening day of the season by going down 3-2 at Hillsborough.

The biggest positive from the defeat was the performance of Jamie O'Hara, who scored the equaliser and set up Tom Cairney's second-half consolation. The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has played every minute this season and completed more successful passes (468) than any other Championship player.

The Cottagers have been in action since, losing out to a Peter Crouch goal in the Capital One Cup third round against Stoke City.

Supporters might have fancied an upset against the Premier League side and they would have been even more annoyed when Stoke got a home draw against Fulham's biggest rivals Chelsea last night.

With Matt Smith injured, Fulham boss Symons has a tough choice of who to partner Ross McCormack with up front. Moussa Dembele and Cauley Woodrow have rotated in recent matches and the latter might feel he should be the one to start on Friday given his two goals in three league matches this season.

Recent Championship form: LLDWWL
Recent form (all competitions): DWWWLL

QPR

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Three wins in a row to end August put QPR right in the mix at the top of the table, but they are winless in September and have dropped to ninth in the table.

Disappointing home results against Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers started the month, but Chris Ramsey's side improved last weekend with a 1-1 draw at Hull City, who had won every home league match this season prior to the stalemate.

In Charlie Austin, Rangers possess the league's top marksman and his lead at the top of the scoring charts was extended yesterday, even though QPR were not playing.

The Football League's Dubious Goals Committee reached the verdict that the R's first goal in the 2-2 draw with Blackburn Rovers last week was an Austin goal after it had initially gone down as an own goal, taking the striker's tally to seven in eight matches.

Austin's goals have helped QPR to the top of the attack league with 14 goals in eight matches, but they have been far from watertight at the other end - only bottom two sides Bristol City and Rotherham United (both 17) have conceded more goals than QPR (13).

Recent Championship form: WWWLDD
Recent form (all competitions): WLWLDD

Team News

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Tomorrow night could see the first appearance of the season for QPR midfielder Leroy Fer, who has been out with a knee injury since the end of last season.

The Dutchman is unlikely to start, but could be named on the bench, with Ramsey likely to name a similar side to the one that started at Hull last weekend.

As for Symons, he made six changes to his Fulham side for the midweek visit of Stoke City and he could return to his favoured league lineup after giving some players a rest.

However, Jazz Richards will miss out after picking up a knock against the Potters, meaning that Richard Stearman might slot across to right-back.

Symons also confirmed today that the trio of Scott Parker, Luke Garbutt and George Williams are back in full training and will soon be available for selection once more.

Fulham possible starting lineup:
Lonergan; Stearman, Burn, Ream, Husband; Cairney, Tunnicliffe, O'Hara, Pringle; McCormack, Woodrow

QPR possible starting lineup:
Green; Perch, Onuoha, Angella, Konchesky; Faurlin, Tozser; Phillips, Luongo, Chery; Austin

Head To Head

This will be the two teams' first meeting in over two years and Fulham have had the better of it in recent encounters.

QPR have won just one of their last eight games against the Cottagers (D1 L6), failing to score in six of those games.

Fulham have also enjoyed playing QPR at home in recent times, winning four on the trot and netting 12 goals in those victories.

We say: Fulham 0-2 QPR

The head-to-head stats might point to a home win, but with Austin still in form and QPR having not played in midweek, we're siding with the visitors.

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