Date: 23rd January 2016
Kick-off: 12:30pm
Venue: Loftus Road
Competition: Sky Bet Championship
Ahead of Saturday’s trip to QPR, Wolves are yet again back into crisis mode.
It was revealed this week that star of the season Jordan Graham will miss up to a year of action due to a nasty ACL tear.
Not only that but as the search for a replacement for Afobe continues, news broke that forward Michal Zyro will miss the upcoming game with QPR due to a calf injury. The Polish international has 3 goals in his past two games and Kenny Jackett will have a hard time replacing him at Loftus Road.
Looking at possible replacements for the QPR game is tough. Jackett seemingly has little faith in Adam Le Fondre’s ability to lead the line. Throughout his time at the club, Le Fondre has had few starts and little chance to impact off the bench, even at times where striking options were down to the bare bones.
Recent youth signing Aaron Collins is hardly the attacking hero fans are looking for, and as the transfer window slowly closes there seems to be little to any movement.
Hopefully Bjorn Sigurdsson will be fit enough to play on Saturday, but as of yet there is little indication that he will start.
Injuries have certainly highlighted our distinct lack of ammunition up front and halted any progress for this season. Whether stalling was inevitable due to having such a small, young squad, the lack of signings and decision to let key players go means play off hopes have been surely dampened.
David Edwards himself admitted this week that top six would be a tall order for Wolves given the loss of so many key players.
The recent 3-1 loss to Cardiff also demonstrated that defence is still a major issue, with all three of the Bluebirds goals coming from long range. Danny Batth especially had a game to forget, struggling to close down quick enough and losing markers on several key occasions.
Despite this the QPR game will most likely see very few changes to the starting line-up. Hopefully Jack Price can come back into the side to improve a midfield that was entirely bypassed last weekend.
Wolves have good history playing at QPR, with a run of 12 games unbeaten on visits to Loftus Road. However the most recent game between the two sides swung QPR’s way with a 3-2 victory handing us our first loss of the season.
QPR will be without striker Charlie Austin after his move to Southampton, but will have new signing and Wolves target Connor Washington in line to make his debut.
Fancast Predictions
Luke T QPR 2-2 Wolves
Ry QPR 1-1 Wolves
Luke R SCORE DRAW
David QPR 1-2 Wolves
Craig QPR 1-1 Wolves
Danger Men
QPR
Connor Washington was heavily linked to a move to Molineux both before and after Afobe’s departure, but instead finds himself lining up against us on Saturday. It took QPR a mere two days to replace Charlie Austin with a new striker, urgency in the transfer window that Wolves can only dream of.
The familiar face of Karl Henry will be lining up against Wolves on Saturday hoping to haunt his boyhood club. Despite making 250 appearances and becoming club captain for Wolves, many fans did not take to Henry’s negative style of play and were glad to see him leave on a free transfer in 2013.
Wolves
Following the injury to Jordan Graham, attention falls to Wolves other creative options such as Rajiv van La Parra. Despite flashes of brilliance, van La Parra is frustrating to watch when going forward but has spoken out about his desire to bag more goals in the future.
Match odds
QPR 5/4
Draw 9/4
Wolves 23/10
First goal scorer
Connor Washington 11/2
Sebastian Polter 11/2
David Hoilett 6/1
Adam Le Fondre 7/1
Rajiv van La Parra 15/2
David Edwards 17/2
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