Two of the three unbeaten sides left in the Championship meet at the Vitality Stadium on Tuesday, as Bournemouth host Queens Park Rangers.
Both teams occupy a playoff position after the opening six games in the second tier of English football, with an identical record of three wins and three draws apiece.
Match preview
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After falling in the playoffs in their quest for promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking last season, Bournemouth turned to former Fulham manager Scott Parker in the summer.
Parker has overseen an impressive unbeaten start to the new league campaign, where his side currently sit in fifth position.
Were it not for a couple of frustrating draws along the way, the Cherries could find themselves occupying an automatic promotion spot, but Parker will be pleased to see the foundations being there for a potential promotion-chasing side this year.
In the first match back after the international break, Bournemouth comfortably beat Barnsley 3-0 at home on Saturday, with a brace from young full-back Jordan Zemura and another goal for striker Dominic Solanke helping them on their way.
The result was never in doubt once Zemura gave his side the lead after just eight minutes, with the hosts dominating in terms of possession and chances created throughout the match.
Parker will have also been pleased to see his team record back-to-back clean sheets for the first time this campaign, after losing 6-0 to Norwich City in the EFL Cup three matches ago.
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As for the visitors, QPR have picked up from where they left off at the back end of the 2020-21 season under manager Mark Warburton.
The Hoops finished last campaign with four wins from their final five matches, and as mentioned above, have started this one with a six-game unbeaten run in league action, and eight in all competitions.
Warburton's style of play has impressed many and, as a result of this style, his side have scored a league-high 14 goals in the Championship so far.
Three of these goals arrived in a thrilling 3-3 draw away to Reading on Saturday, in their return to action after the international break.
Although the manager will have been disappointed to see his side turn a one-goal advantage into a 3-1 deficit heading into the final 10 minutes or so, he will have undoubtedly been impressed with their character to come back from two goals down in the closing stages, which included a 91st-minute equaliser from Stefan Johansen.
Warburton will now hope to carry those joys of a late equaliser into Tuesday's match, against a side they managed to take four points from in their two meetings last campaign.
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Team News
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Bournemouth have no fresh injury concerns ahead of Tuesday's visit of QPR to the Vitality Stadium.
This means that Lewis Cook and Junior Stanislas continue to remain as the only two absentees for the hosts.
Cook has yet to feature this season after suffering another serious knee injury, whilst Stanislas is unlikely to have recovered from a hamstring injury in time.
Meanwhile, QPR have a few more injury concerns to deal with ahead of their trip to the south coast.
Midfielder Sam Field remains unavailable, whilst Lee Wallace and Luke Amos are not expected to return just yet.
Key forwards Ilias Chair and Chris Willock have been listed as doubts for Tuesday, after picking up knocks during the draw with Reading at the weekend, but manager Warburton will be hoping they will be fit enough to start.
Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Travers; Smith, Cahill, Kelly, Zemura; Pearson, Lerma, Billing; Brooks, Solanke, Anthony
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Dickie, De Wijs, Barbet; Odubajo, Ball, Johansen, McCallum; Willock, Chair; Austin
We say: Bournemouth 2-2 Queens Park Rangers
With two open, attacking sides on display in this one, it should be an entertaining encounter with goals expected. After strong unbeaten starts to the season for both, it is hard to separate them so we are predicting a score draw here.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bournemouth win with a probability of 47.65%. A win for Queens Park Rangers had a probability of 26.59% and a draw had a probability of 25.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Bournemouth win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.25%) and 2-0 (8.73%). The likeliest Queens Park Rangers win was 0-1 (8.1%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.24%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 9.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Bournemouth would win this match.
