Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town can both look back on encouraging campaigns when they meet on the final day of the Championship season.
The two sides have secured top half finishes – QPR in ninth and Luton in 12th – and are heading into the summer in good form.
Match preview
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QPR can still rise to eighth if they win on Saturday and Cardiff City lose to Rotherham United, but barring a five goal defeat in this fixture, they will secure their highest Championship finish since they were relegated from the Premier League in 2015.
That is something that seemed unlikely during the first half of the season, as the Rs languished in the bottom half of the table with Mark Warburton in danger of losing his job.
However, their-post Christmas form has been among the best in the Championship – only promotion winners Norwich City and Watford have picked up more points in 2021.
Rangers go into this weekend with four wins in six games and goals from Charlie Austin and Osman Kakay earned a 2-0 victory over Stoke City last weekend.
Such a strong end to the campaign is certainly giving supporters hope that a playoff push could be on the cards in 2021-22.
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The buoyant mood is replicated at Kenilworth Road, where Luton drew 0-0 with Rotherham United on Tuesday to move onto 62 points – their highest tally in the second tier since 1982.
Nathan Jones could not hide his pride at how the Hatters, who only survived relegation to League One on the final day of last season, are "really punching above our weight".
It is now six games without defeat for the Bedfordshire outfit; only Brentford are currently on a longer unbeaten streak in the Championship.
However, Luton have scored the joint-fewest goals on the road in the division this season (15) and six have those have come in their last two away games as they have put three past both Wycombe Wanderers and Bristol City.
Luton have not beaten QPR in their last four attempts since 2007, and they have not won on their last 16 visits to Loftus Road since 1984; Rangers were 2-0 winners in this season's reverse fixture in January.
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Team News
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QPR captain Geoff Cameron will leave Loftus Road upon the expiration of his contract this summer and may have played his last game for the club having missed the last seven matches through injury.
Injuries have clouded Jordy de Wijs's loan spell with the Rs, but he is ending the season strongly and is expected to complete a permanent move in the summer.
Austin also arrived on loan in January and netted his first goal in two months against Stoke but is also on a shortlist of players that supporters feel QPR must sign permanently.
Luton may revert to a back four after starting with a three-man defence against Rotherham; that could see Dan Potts replaced by Harry Cornick, while Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu is also in contention to come into the side in place of Ryan Tunnicliffe.
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Dickie, De Wijs, Barbet; Kakay, Johansen, Chair, Wallace; Willock; Dykes, Austin
Luton Town possible starting lineup:
Sluga; Bree, Pearson, Bradley, Naismith; Rea, Mpanzu, Dewsbury-Hall; Cornick, Collins, Adebayo
We say: Queens Park Rangers 1-0 Luton Town
This is a hard one to predict as both sides will want to end strong seasons with victories, but we are backing QPR as Luton played in midweek and looked slightly fatigued against Rotherham. That said, the Hatters have surprised people all season, so they may pull out another rabbit on Saturday.
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 Queens Park Rangers win with a probability of 40.41%. A win for Luton Town had a probability of 33.25% and a draw had a probability of 26.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Queens Park Rangers win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.26%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.6%) and 2-0 (7.05%). The likeliest Luton Town win was 0-1 (9.12%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.52%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 3.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Queens Park Rangers would win this match.
