Preview: Queens Park Rangers vs Ipswich Town - prediction, team news, lineups

Ipswich Town make the trip to Loftus Road to face Queens Park Rangers on Saturday afternoon looking for the win that would catapult them up the Championship table.

At a time when the Tractor Boys sit in 12th position, QPR are just two points ahead in ninth after their recent inconsistent run of form.

Match preview

Amid speculation linking him with a move to Celtic, Kieran McKenna will want to focus on the job in hand which is trying to move Ipswich up the Championship standings.

Collecting just four wins from 11 matches is a poor return for a recently-relegated club, yet Ipswich remain three points adrift of the playoffs with a game in hand.

After back-to-back defeats to Middlesbrough and Charlton Athletic, fans were becoming disgruntled, but the late 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion last weekend has lifted the mood at Portman Road.

While Jack Clarke found himself on the substitutes' bench for that fixture, his winning strike represented his fifth goal from eight appearances since August 30.

Only three teams have scored more goals than Ipswich in this season's Championship, but the shutout versus West Brom was just their second clean sheet in 11 outings, the other coming against Sheffield United when they were losing every match under Ruben Selles.

As for QPR, Julien Stephan's side have lost their way in recent games having previously stormed up the second-tier standings.

A six-game unbeaten run that generated 14 points has been followed by two defeats being posted in three matches, a win over 10-man Swansea City being recorded in between.

Although a 2-1 defeat at home to Millwall was damaging, Stephan would have felt discouraged after last weekend's 1-0 defeat at Derby County.

That result ended a four-game undefeated streak on their travels, but Stephan may welcome a return to Loftus Road where QPR have only played five times.

Eight points and just four goals conceded have come from those fixtures, yet the Hoops have struggled for strikes of their own with three of their six coming from one game.

Queens Park Rangers Championship form:

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Ipswich Town Championship form:

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Team News

Stephan will inevitably make changes to his QPR XI with Karamoko Dembele and Ilias Chair both in line for recalls in the final third.

Paul Smyth is also pushing for another opportunity, but Stephan may stick to dropping Harvey Vale and Koki Saito for this fixture.

As well as Sammie Szmodics being ruled out in the long term with a knee injury, Ipswich also have doubts over Chuba Akpom.

Marcelino Nunez and Clarke appear in line to return to the starting lineup, with Sindre Egeli potentially missing out.

The likes of Alex Palmer, Harry Clarke and Conor Townsend are all sidelined for the visitors.

Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:

Nardi; Dunne, Mbengue, Cook, Norrington-Davies; Varane, Madsen; Dembele, Kone, Chair; Burrell

Ipswich Town possible starting lineup:

Walton; Furlong, O'Shea, Kipre, Davis; Matusiwa, Taylor; Clarke, Nunez, Philogene; Hirst

We say: Queens Park Rangers 1-1 Ipswich Town

Given the speculation linking McKenna to Celtic, this feels like an important game for his Ipswich players to remind him why he has turned down approaches from elsewhere in the past. Nevertheless, we can still see a low-scoring draw being played out at Loftis Road, a result that would suit neither team.

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