Mark Warburton will take charge of Queens Park Rangers for the final time when his side travel to Swansea City on the last day of the Championship season.
The 59-year-old is departing the West London club at the end of his contract following a campaign that promised plenty but has dramatically unravelled.
Match preview
© Reuters
After six largely uneventful seasons outside of the Premier League, QPR finally looked set to challenge for a top-flight return this year.
The majority of their campaign has been spent in the playoff positions and they were just two points behind the top two in January.
However, the team's form has fallen off a cliff in the final three months of the season and Warburton's side have lost seven of their last nine matches.
The Hoops, who sit 12th in the table following a 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United last week, could even end up finishing in the bottom half as low as 16th.
Only Bournemouth and Fulham have scored more goals away from home in the Championship this season than QPR, but the West London side have taken just one point from their last five matches on the road.
© Reuters
Swansea sit 15th in the table and are just two points behind the Hoops, so would overtake them with victory in this final-day fixture.
It has been a steady if unspectacular first season in South Wales for manager Russell Martin, who replaced Steve Cooper less than a week before the start of the campaign.
The Swans were comfortably beaten 5-1 by Cooper's current side Nottingham Forest last weekend, which was their first defeat in 10 matches. However, their four previous games had all ended as draws as their surprise late playoff bid fell by the wayside.
Flynn Downes was sent off in second-half stoppage time as these two sides played out a 0-0 draw in the reverse fixture at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium in January.
- W
- D
- D
- D
- D
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Reuters
Swansea are likely to revert to a back three after collapsing against Forest last weekend with a four-man defence.
With Ben Cabango out injured, that could mean that full-back Ryan Manning slots into the backline with Hannes Wolf being deployed on the left flank.
Eighteen-year-old Cameron Congreve was handed his first Championship start against Forest and could feature again as Martin looks to the future.
Yoann Barbet could return for QPR after missing the defeat to Sheffield United, with midfielder Sam Field forced to play in defence against the Blades as Rob Dickie is also out.
Charlie Austin made his first start in over two months last week and scored his first goal since January so will hope to keep his place.
Keiren Westwood could be fit enough to return in goal, but Mark Warburton may decide to stick with 20-year-old Murphy Mahoney.
Swansea City possible starting lineup:
Fisher; Naughton, Latibeaudiere, Manning; Christie, Grimes, Downes, Wolf; Congreve; Piroe, Obafemi
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Mahoney; Sanderson, Dunne, Barbet, McCallum; Field, Dozzell; Amos, Johansen; Austin, Chair
We say: Swansea City 2-1 Queens Park Rangers
QPR have been in freefall for a couple of months now and news of Mark Warburton's impending exit makes victory in this game even more unlikely. Swansea should take advantage of the downbeat mood in the Hoops' camp and end the season on a high.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Swansea City win with a probability of 46.4%. A win for Queens Park Rangers had a probability of 28.73% and a draw had a probability of 24.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Swansea City win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.88%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.31%) and 2-0 (7.81%). The likeliest Queens Park Rangers win was 0-1 (7.44%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.77%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood.