Queens Park Rangers – Norwich City Fc

The Championship is known as one of Europe's most even and unpredictable leagues, where the gap between promotion and relegation is often marginal. In this landscape, Queens Park Rangers from London and Norwich City from the East of England meet in a match that means a lot to both teams, but for completely different reasons.

QPR are just outside the play-off places and still have every hope of making it into the top six, while Norwich are having a season far below expectations and are below the relegation zone. We have found some exciting trends that we believe can easily be maintained here. At very good odds.

QPR – Strong home form gives hope for playoff

QPR come into the match with somewhat variable form overall, having won just two of their last five games. However, these figures hide a very important factor: their home form. At Loftus Road, the London club have won four of their last five games, and this gives them a solid starting point before the meeting with Norwich.

QPR are currently just outside the play-offs, but with just two points up from sixth place, the gap is entirely manageable. In other words, this is a match where three points could have a big impact on the end of the season, and home field advantage has been a clear weapon for the team throughout the season.

Unfortunately, it seems that QPR's energetic playmaker; Ilias Chair, will not be able to make the match. After a brilliant start to the season, where he has contributed with goals, assists, in addition to being central to QPR's offensive game, he has now been injured for five matches, and many indicate that this match will also come too soon for the Belgian-born Moroccan.

Norwich – too many points ties

For Norwich, the season has been a huge disappointment. The club is below the relegation zone, and although the gap to safety is “only” four points, time is running out. Their form in isolation is not disastrous – they have only lost one of their last five games – but the problem is the number of draws. Norwich have had difficulty deciding even games, and this is particularly reflected in their away statistics, where three of their last five away games have ended in a draw. When the need for points is acute, this tendency can be costly in the long run.

As for the latest news from the physiotherapist, it seems that Jeffrey Schlupp, Mirko Topic, Ante Crnac and Amadou Papa Diallo are all out with injuries. The quartet have so far scored zero goals combined and haven't had any form in a while, so these are four losses we don't need to lose sleep over.

Our betting suggestions

The more we delved in, the more interesting trends we found. QPR's home form was one thing, but there was something special about Norwich's away form too. In addition, their table position makes this match very important for both teams. So we consider the following three games;

Bet suggestion 1: Over 2.5 goals (1.87)

There is much to suggest that this match could be a goal-packed affair. QPR's matches have averaged 3 goals this season, while Norwich's have averaged 2.6 goals. QPR's home statistics are particularly interesting, as they are the team with the highest goal average at home in the Championship, with an average of 3.2 goals per match. Not least, QPR have scored over 2.5 goals in five of their last five home matches.

When you also take into account that both teams have a clear need for points – QPR in the playoff hunt and Norwich in the relegation battle – everything is set for an open match with high intensity and goals both ways.

Betting proposal 2: Both teams score (1.71)

This is what first caught our attention. Just listen; in 5 of QPR's last 5 home games, the game has ended with both teams scoring. And not only that; in 5 of Norwich's last 5 away games, both teams have also scored. You can't get much clearer signals than that.

And when we know how QPR appear at home, and we know Norwich's need to chase points, we can't imagine either team going deep and playing at 0–0. Here are two teams that both need, and have reason to believe in, three points.

Bet suggestion 3: QPR over 1.5 goals (2.03)

We had to include this one too. Because if we believe in goals, and we know how good QPR are at home, isn't it worth trying to get a couple of goals for the home team? They have scored 20 goals in 11 home games, and they are therefore visited by the league's second worst team? At those odds, we must have mentioned that game in any case.

Conclusion

All in all, Norwich have nothing to fear here. At 2-2-1, they are actually in better form than QPR, at 2-1-2. They have scored goals in 11 of their 12 away games this year, and we think they will do it again here. But against a team that has scored goals in 10 of their 11 home games, it feels good to get such good odds on the following bet;

England at 16:00: QPR - Norwich: Both teams to score (1.71)