The Sky Blues travel to London this Saturday to face Queens Park Rangers at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium in the Sky Bet Championship. Here’s everything you need to know about our opponents...
Fact File
Name: Queens Park Rangers Football Club
Founded: 1882Stadium: Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium (first opened 1904)
Capacity: 18,439
Nickname: The Rs, The Hoops, Rangers
Address: South Africa Road, Shepherd’s Bush, London, W12 7PJ
Pitch Size: 102 x 66 yards
The Opposition
Having been one of the form sides in the second half of the Championship last term, QPR have took that form into this season and are unbeaten in their opening six league and cup matches.
QPR have brought in ten players this summer, including Stefan Johansen and Charlie Austin, who were crucial to the R's successes last season.
Among the other arrivals includes a face familiar to Sky Blues fans in the form of Sam McCallum, who joined on a season-long-loan move from Premier League side Norwich City last month.
The Hoops currently sit in 5th place in the Sky Bet Championship table with two wins and two draws from their opening four league matches of the season.
Warburton’s men have also made the third round of the Carabao Cup for the first time in three seasons, where they will face top-flight Everton with the 1967 winners having already eliminated Leyton Orient and Oxford United.
Manager
Mark Warburton was appointed as QPR manager in May 2019, succeeding Steve McClaren, and built upon a strong first season to see his Rs side rise from 13th to 9th in the Championship table last season.
Warburton began his managerial career with Brentford, initially arriving as first team coach to Nicky Forster in February 2011, but with the appointment of Uwe Rosler that summer, Warburton move upstairs to the role of Sporting Director.
He moved back down to the dugout to take charge of the Bees for the rest of the 2013/14 campaign after the German departed and led the Bees to promotion as League One Runners-Up. The Bees carried on their fine form into the next season, their first in the second tier since 1992/93, and reached the Championship play-off semi-finals, only to lose to Middlesbrough.
Despite his success Warburton and Brentford parted ways, that saw the London born coach head north of the border to join Rangers in June 2015, being the man to take the Gers back to the top flight as well as winning his first piece of silverware in the shape of the Scottish Challenge Cup.
He returned to England in March 2017 to keep Nottingham Forest in the Championship on the final day, surviving on goal difference, but was dismissed after nine months in charge that December after a home defeat to Sunderland, that left the Reds 14th in the league.
With QPR, Warburton has managed 104 games recording 39 wins, 25 draws and 40 defeats.
Last Six Games
Won – QPR 2-0 Oxford United (Carabao Cup Second Round)
Drew – QPR 2-2 Barnsley (Sky Bet Championship)
Won – Middlesbrough 2-3 QPR (Sky Bet Championship)
Won – Hull City 0-3 QPR (Sky Bet Championship)
Won – Leyton Orient 1-1 QPR – QPR won 5-3 on penalties (Carabao Cup First Round)
Won – QPR 1-1 Millwall (Sky Bet Championship)
Last Time We Met
The two sides last met in April 2021 when the Sky Blues went down 3-0 to the Rs in the Sky Bet Championship at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium after goals from Chris Willock, Ilias Chair and a Michael Rose own goal.
Sky Blues Xl: Marko Marosi (GK), Julien Dacosta, Michael Rose (Josh Pask, 66’), Leo Ostigard, Dom Hyam, Sam McCallum, Matty James (C), Gus Hamer (Josh Eccles, 77’), Jordan Shipley (Viktor Gyokeres, 58’), Jamie Allen (O’Hare, 58’), Matty Godden (Walker, 58’).
Unused subs: Ben Wilson (GK), Jordon Thompson, Liam Kelly, Amadou Bakayoko.
Head-to-Head Record
Sky Blues Wins – 48
Draws – 31
QPR Wins – 43
Club Connection
Sam McCallum
Canterbury born left-back Sam McCallum made 84 appearances for the Sky Blues across three seasons from 2018 to 2021.
McCallum joined City in 2018 and made eight appearances before establishing himself in the side the following season where he featured 35 times. The youngster began the season as a City player, scoring his first goal against Colchester United in the FA Cup, but joined Norwich in the 2020 January transfer window before returning for the rest of the campaign as the Sky Blues won the League One title.
The defender would stay with Mark Robins’ men for their first season back in the Championship and would go on to play 41 times over the course of the season, scoring in the home win over Reading, as the Sky Blues finished 16th.
McCallum returned to the Canaries in the summer before being sent out on loan to QPR in July 2021, with the now 20-year-old making his Hoops debut in Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup victory over Oxford United, where he played 64 minutes in left midfield.
Match Officials
Dean Whitestone will be the man in the middle for the Sky Blues’ trip to the capital on Saturday to face Queens Park Rangers.
It will be the first time that Whitestone has taken charge of a game involving the Sky Blues since our 3-0 defeat at Reading in January 2021.
This year will mark Dean's 17th season as a referee in the Football League and over that time he has officiated 23 Sky Blues fixtures, including our 1-0 victory over the R's in September 2008.
So far this season Whitestone has awarded 12 yellow cards and 1 red card in the 4 games he has officiated across the Sky Bet Championship.
Whitestone will be assisted by Graham Kane and Philip Dermott whilst Joshua Smith will act as the fourth official.