Championship | Gameweek 34

Feb 22, 2025 at 3pm UK

Fratton Park

Portsmouth vs QPR

Match preview

Portsmouth have boosted their survival hopes by taking maximum points from their last two games against Cardiff City and Oxford United.

The south-coast side edged Cardiff 2-1 at Fratton Park before claiming a 2-0 away win over the U's thanks to second-half goals from Andre Dozzell and Mark O'Mahony.

The three points were particularly special as it was Pompey's second away win of the season and their first away from home since beating QPR 2-1 at Loftus Road in October.

Pompey now sit 18th in the Championship table, seven points clear of the bottom three.

They will be fancying their chances of adding to their 36-point tally on Saturday, having won seven, drawn two and lost just one of their last 10 home games.

Portsmouth will be hoping that home advantage can help them complete a league double over QPR for the first time since the 1961-62 season.

QPR sit eight points above Pompey in 13th place, having collected 44 points from their 33 league games this season.

Instead of looking over their shoulders, the R's will be looking to make a play-off push in their final 13 games, with four points separating them from sixth-placed West Bromwich Albion.

They have had mixed results in recent weeks, winning two and losing three of their last five games, with both victories coming at Loftus Road.

After losing to Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall, QPR edged out Blackburn Rovers 2-1 before going down 1-0 away to Coventry City.

However, they quickly returned to winning ways with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Derby, with Ilias Chair scoring a brace alongside goals from Koki Saito and Ronnie Edwards as QPR recorded their seventh win in eight home games.

Despite losing their last two away games in the Championship, the R's will take heart from the fact that they have avoided defeat in each of their last four competitive away meetings with Portsmouth, dating back to a 3-0 defeat in August 1998.

Recent Performance

Portsmouth Championship form:LLDLWW

Queens Park Rangers Championship form:WLLWLW

Team News

Pompey boss John Mousinho has revealed that Callum Lang will miss the rest of the season with a hamstring injury sustained in the win over Oxford.

Portsmouth's top scorer joins a list of absentees that includes Jordan Williams, Conor Shaughnessy, Ibane Bowat, Jacob Farrell and Paddy Lane.

Kusini Yengi could be in contention for a place in the matchday squad after returning to full training, but it remains to be seen whether Freddie Potts will overcome a calf problem in time for Saturday's home clash.

The visitors will be without the services of Jake Clarke-Salter and Zan Celar, while Daniel Bennie is away with the Australian U-20 side.

Cifuentes has confirmed that attacking duo Lucas Andersen and Karamoko Dembele are in contention after two weeks of full training.

The QPR boss may be tempted to stick with the same side that started the dominant 4-0 win over Derby last time out.

Possible starting lineup

Portsmouth possible starting lineup:

Schmid; Swanson, Matthews, Atkinson, Ogilvie; Hayden, Dozzell; Ritchie, Aouchiche, Murphy; Bishop

Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:

Nardi; Dunne, Cook, Edwards, Paal; Varane, Field; Yang, Chair, Saito; Frey