Queens Park Rangers vs Sheffield United. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance13,604.
Tuesday 31 October 2017 17:06, UK
QPR will be without Joel Lynch when they host Sky Bet Championship leaders Sheffield United.
The centre-half, who set up Matt Smith's winner against Wolves at the weekend, is suspended after collecting a fifth booking. Fellow defenders Nedum Onuoha (hamstring), James Perch and Grant Hall (both knee) are set to miss out again.
Midfielder Jordan Cousins will have his fitness assessed after coming through 66 minutes of his first appearance of the season on Saturday.
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder is likely to choose from an unchanged squad as his Blades bid to stay top of the table. Wilder has no new injury or suspension concerns following last Friday's win at Leeds, but is still without Kieron Freeman and Ched Evans.
Defender Freeman is recovering from a dislocated kneecap and striker Evans is in rehab following ankle surgery. Attacking midfielder David Brooks is pushing for a recall to the starting line-up after firing the winner at Elland Road.
QPR haven't lost any of their last five home league meetings with the Blades (W2 D3) since a 1-0 defeat in August 2004.
Sheffield United did, however, win on their last visit to Loftus Road in January 2015, winning 3-0 in the FA Cup as a League One side when the Hoops were in the Premier League.
Billy Sharp scored a hat-trick the last time he faced QPR as a Sheffield United player, netting the treble in August 2008. However, Sharp has only found the net once in his last 12 league games in London, scoring at AFC Wimbledon last September.
QPR striker Matt Smith has scored 75% of his league goals with his head this season (3 of 4). In fact, no Championship player has scored more headed goals than Matt Smith so far this term (3 - also Britt Assombalonga).
Nedum Onuoha has made two errors leading to a goal so far this season - Only Sheffield Wednesday's Keiren Westwood has made more (3).
What a way to end a poor run! Not many would have tipped QPR to beat Wolves on Saturday but they did and they were fully deserving of the three points as well.
Their reward for that is a game against another of the form divisions in the Championship. Sheffield United's rise has been remarkable so far, but Chris Wilder won't let his players get carried away. This, however, could be their first draw of the season.
Prutton predicts: 2-2 (12/1 with Sky Bet)
