Middlesbrough vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Riverside StadiumAttendance24,790.
Friday 15 September 2017 10:24, UK
Middlesbrough will be without winger Adama Traore for QPR's Sky Bet Championship visit to to the Riverside Stadium through suspension.
Traore was sent off for a challenge on Conor Hourihane during Tuesday night's 0-0 draw at Aston Villa and saw an appeal rejected on Thursday afternoon, so will serve the first instalment of a three-match ban. Manager Garry Monk kept faith with the 11 men who had started the 3-0 victory at Bolton for the trip to Villa Park, but Traore's absence will mean at least one change this time around.
Rudy Gestede has undergone minor surgery to address a persistent thigh injury and is now recovering, while fellow striker Martin Braithwaite has returned to training after shaking off a hamstring problem, although Saturday's game will come too soon for him.
QPR boss Ian Holloway could name the same line-up for a third straight game. Rangers followed up last weekend's win over Ipswich by coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Millwall on Tuesday.
However, striker Matt Smith is pushing for a start after coming off the bench to hit the equaliser against the Lions. Grant Hall, Joel Lynch, James Perch and Jordan Cousins remain on the injury list for Rangers.
Middlesbrough have won their last two league matches against QPR, both in the 2015/16 season - they have never won three consecutively against the Hoops.
None of the last 10 league meetings between the teams in Middlesbrough have ended as a draw - Middlesbrough have won six and QPR have won four of these meetings.
Boro are yet to concede a league goal at the Riverside this season - they last went their opening four home league matches without conceding in the 1991/92 campaign, which ended in promotion to the inaugural Premier League campaign.
In their last league match against Millwall, QPR had 31 shots - the most by a team in a Championship match since February (Huddersfield v Rotherham, 33). It was the most by a QPR side since November 2014, when they had 33 against Leicester in a Premier League encounter.
Middlesbrough have conceded just six goals in their last 22 home Championship games and never more than once in any of those games.
Both sides are coming off the back of draws in midweek. Middlesbrough played for an awfully long time with 10 men in midweek, so you wonder what kind of impact that will have on them here.
QPR, meanwhile, battled back well against Millwall but they look a far different side at home than they do away, so I see this as a home win.
Prutton predicts: 2-1 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
