Queens Park Rangers host bottom-of-the-league Barnsley at Loftus Road on Saturday as the struggling side attempt to escape from the bottom three.

QPR are 13th in the Championship table and have an outside chance of making the playoffs, with a home game against Barnsley potentially a good opportunity to pick up three points.

Match preview

Queens Park Rangers' Eberechi Eze celebrates scoring their second goal with Marc Pugh on February 15, 2020 © Reuters

QPR are on a six-match unbeaten run in the league - a strong response to suffering three defeats in a row between the end of January and the start of February.

Mark Warburton's men are just 13th in the Championship standings but are just six points behind sixth-placed Preston North End and a strong run of form could lift them into contention for a playoff spot.

QPR have been an entertaining side to watch this term, scoring the third-most goals of any side in the division, trailing just West Bromwich Albion and Brentford on that front.

However, they have conceded 62 goals in 37 games in the league so far, with only Hull City and Luton Town shipping more, whilst Saturday's opponents have the same record.

Barnsley have bounced back somewhat from their disastrous 17-game winless run at the start of the campaign and, despite being bottom, are still only seven points off safety.

A repeat of the dramatic 5-3 win they earned over QPR at home earlier this season would be more than welcome as Gerhard Struber's side attempt to close the gap.

A three-game winning run last month suggested the possibility of a grand escape for the Yorkshire club, but two defeats in their last two games have been a harsh reality check.

Despite that positive streak in February, Barnsley have amassed just eight league wins this term, the fewest of any side in the division, with just three coming away from home.

In fact, Barnsley have lost a whopping 12 of their 18 league fixtures on the road this season, something that is likely to be weighing on the players' minds as they travel down to London.

Queens Park Rangers Championship form: DWDWDW

Barnsley Championship form: LWWWLL

Team News

Barnsley boss Gerhard Struber on February 8, 2020 © Reuters

QPR manager Warburton has an almost fully-fit squad to choose from as Barnsley visit Loftus Road on Saturday.

Only young midfielder Charlie Owens is unavailable as he nurses a knee injury.

Geoff Cameron is also out through suspension after being sent off against Preston last weekend.

Barnsley boss Struber, on the other hand, has more absences to consider.

Callum Styles and Samuel Radlinger are both a few weeks away from a full recovery and will not feature.

Bambo Diaby has not been named in a matchday squad since failing a drugs test and is likely to remain out of the picture.

Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Kelly; Rangel, Hall, Barbet, Manning; Ledson, Ball; Osayi-Samuel, Eze, Pugh; Hugill

Barnsley possible starting lineup:
Collins; Ludewig, Sollbauer, Halme, Williams; Thomas, Mowatt, Ritzmaier; Woodrow; Brown, Chaplin

We say: QPR 2-1 Barnsley

QPR are in fine form and have home advantage, while bottom-of-the-league Barnsley have lost their last two and have a poor away record. Warburton's side should have too much at Loftus Road.

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 Queens Park Rangers win with a probability of 49.73%. A win for Barnsley had a probability of 27.39% and a draw had a probability of 22.9%.

The most likely scoreline for a Queens Park Rangers win was 2-1 with a probability of 9.51%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.98%) and 2-0 (7.29%). The likeliest Barnsley win was 1-2 (6.78%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.4%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.7% likelihood.