Queens Park Rangers v Wolverhampton Wanderers Betting Tips

Thursday’s Championship match sees two teams with relatively new managers come head-to-head with Queens Park Rangers and Ian Holloway taking on Wolverhampton Wanderers and Paul Lambert.

New Q.P.R. manager Holloway is clearly delighted to be back at Loftus Road as he considers the club to be running through his veins after appearing for them nearly 150 times during the 1990’s before managing the club back in the early 2000’s. He now faces a different challenge as he looks to take a side relegated a couple of years ago back to the Premier League. However, it is very much a balancing act as the club have a very ambitious owner in Tony Fernandes who is willing to splash the cash yet it seems not all is right at the club and that they are almost trying to find themselves after a number of disappointing seasons.

Bristolian Holloway had a fantastic start to his second spell in charge of The Hoops by winning 2-1 against recently-relegated Norwich but then suffered a rather humiliating defeat away to lowly Ipswich Town at the weekend. This sort of inconsistency has been very typical of Q.P.R. over recent years and is a big reason why they have under-performed. Holloway’s task is to sort out this inconsistency and take them back to the Premier League – a very difficult task with so many egos and big wage players stifling the club.

The R’s are currently 15th in the table but just six points off the play-off positions so we could see a late surge after Christmas.

Holloway has never been known as a defensive coach and indeed his Q.P.R. side are yet to keep a clean sheet this season. That is certainly something to keep an eye on in this match.

Wolves have a new manager in the form of ex Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert. Many Wolves fans wish that their club could challenge in and around the play-offs but in reality the Scot’s task is simply to keep Wolves in the division.

This has been evident in Lambert’s first two games in charge with his side scoring zero goals and collecting just one point from a possible six. They did pretty well in Lambert’s first match to pick up a point against mid-table Preston North End but then succumbed to a 2-0 loss at home to Sheffield Wednesday, turning in a poor performance. That loss at Molineux means that Wolves now sit in a perilous 21st position and are only outside the relegation zone ahead of Wigan Athletic on goals scored.

Wigan won against play-off chasers Huddersfield Town on Monday night which increased the pressure on Wolves. The Midlands side really need at least a point from this match, and ideally a win, to put the pressure on other relegation rivals who will play over the coming days.

In terms of the betting I would really fancy a Q.P.R. win here and think they are well worth backing at 6/4. The Loftus Road faithful are clearly behind their new manager Holloway and looked confident in their previous home match, whereas Wolves really do lack any sort of confidence whatsoever.

A second worthwhile bet here is ‘2-3 Goals Total’ at odds of 11/10. We could see a few goals here – Holloway’s first two matches in charge have brought about goals. However, I am not sure we will go over the three mark. You would really need Wolves to put in a good attacking performance for that to happen here and Lambert’s side just don’t look capable of that at the moment – especially against a confident-looking Q.P.R. team.

Sticking with the Rangers win, ‘Queens Park Rangers to Win & Over 1.5 Goals Total’, at a somewhat generous 9/4, makes plenty of appeal. I am quite frankly astounded that you can get such good odds on this selection. Wolves aren’t offering much going forward right now, while the hosts look more than capable of putting the ball in the net a few times on their way to collecting the three points.

See more tips here.