Nottingham Forest gained a solid point in Saturday’s 2-2 draw away from home at Championship league leaders, West Brom, which maintained Forest’s position in the play-off pack in the Championship.
However, recent results have produced a mixed return for this Saturday’s hosts as Forest have gained impressive wins over Brentford and Leeds United but have also fallen to disappointing defeats to Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic.
Nevertheless, Nottingham Forest still occupy a place in the play-off pack in 5th place but with Bristol City breathing down their necks in 7th place and just 2 points behind, Forest will be keen to make home advantage count here by taking all three points.
The hosts have suffered just 1 defeat out of their last 6 matches at the City Ground which includes picking up 4 wins during this period against Wigan Athletic, Blackburn Rovers, Luton Town and Leeds United respectively.
These wins should give Nottingham Forest enough belief and momentum to get over the line against an inconsistent QPR outfit, while striker Grabban (16 goals) will be keen to add to his goal tally.
Onto QPR, and it’s been another frustrating and ultimately disappointing campaign for QPR who had made a bright and promising start to this Championship campaign when they recorded 5 wins from their first 8 matches, which included 4 wins on the trot from the end of August to mid-September.
Wins against Wigan Athletic, Sheffield Wednesday, Luton Town and Millwall had seemingly set QPR on track for a potential top six finish, but the visitors have since slumped by winning just 6 of their last 25 matches overall in the Championship.
The R’s have registered important and impressive recent wins against Leeds United 1-0 and Stoke City 4-2, but both of these wins were achieved on home turf at Loftus Road and have been the exception rather than the rule.
Results away from home have been disastrous though for Mark Warburton’s side who have lost 5 of their last 6 matches on their travels, while the bigger picture shows that the London club have picked up just 1 win out of their last 10 matches on the road, with a 2-0 win away at Birmingham City.
Overall, it looks like being a miserable return to the City Ground for former Forest manager, Mark Warburton, as the hosts look set to bounce back with all three points here.