Sunday Lunchtime sees the only two teams in the league without a win go head to head, as the Super Hoops of QPR meet the Reading Royals (I refuse to acknowledge Reading as the ‘hoops’…).

QPR are favourites at a best price of 6/7 with Pinnacle, who also offer the best price on the draw at 14/5. A Reading win is available at 7/2 with BetVictor.

Both of these teams are in woeful form, and sit 20th and 18th in the league respectively. QPR have suffered recently from a combination of very bad luck defensively (it’s been a case of if you’ve got your boots, you’ll get a game at the back recently, with often tragic consequences…) and poor tactical decisions from Mark Hughes, who is rapidly losing a lot of the goodwill built up by repeatedly picking Shaun Wright-Philips and Ji Sung Park regardless of form or opposition, but dropping and making scapegoats of fan favourites Taarabt & Faurlin. There are definite green shoots of recovery for QPR however, Everton can probably count themselves the happier of the two sides to come away with a point in the recent meeting between the two, and against Arsenal last time out they held on doggedly for 85 minutes until a moment of madness from M’Bia (more on this later…) and an offside goal from Arteta confirmed their defeat.

Reading come into this game on the back of the ridiculous League Cup game against Arsenal, where they threw away a four goal lead to lose 7-5 AET. (as a QPR fan, I laughed like a drain when that happened…)They also drew with Fulham 3-3 in the league last time out, meaning they have scored eight and conceded a remarkable 10 goals in their last two games.

QPR are due to click as a team – they’ve got a very good squad on paper –  and Reading represents their best chance of that elusive first win. The physical effects of the 120 minutes during midweek should not be a factor as they will have had a good four days gap between the games, but the mental fragility of throwing away a four goal lead could prove costly. I’m willing to break the first rule of gambling and back my own team at 6/7 with Pinnacle.

I just can’t however see either side keeping a clean sheet in this game, they are both far too frail defensively at the moment (and QPR are forced to make yet another change to their improving backline following M’Bia’s suspension…) Boylesports are offering odds of 8/11 that both teams score, and that looks ridiculously long when you consider they only have one clean sheet in 17 between them. Think of it as a very high interest bank account.

In terms of the player betting, the goals have been fairly evenly shared out by the two teams, and there is no obvious stand-out candidate to open the scoring. The player that still excites me most however is Adel Taarabt, who is maturing with every game and is a million miles away from the petulant player who demanded to be subbed if things went wrong and took the bus home at half time against Fulham. He’s already scored two this season for QPR, and is back in favour with Mark Hughes. He’s 11/4 to score anytime with Ladbrokes, and if he does score, you can guarantee it’ll be an absolute corker, they always are.

Finally, it won’t have escaped your attention that QPR have an absolutely atrocious disciplinary record at present – M’Bia’s totally stupid and needless red card against Arsenal was the 12th since QPR returned to the top flight. QPR have also had a player sent off in each of the last four league meetings between the two teams.  At time of writing there are no odds currently available for a sending off, as the markets are not fully populated yet, but if you can find a market for a player to be sent off closer to kick off, it might be worth considering.

Betting Tips

QPR to win @ 6/7 (Pinnacle)

Both teams to score @ 8/11 (BoyleSports) – sign up and get £20 free

Taarabt to score anytime @ 11/4 (Ladbrokes) – sign up and get £50 free

For the Notebook:

Look out for odds on a red card.

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