QPR v Sheffield Wednesday: FA Cup under the lights

QPR host Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday. The competition may not be top priority these days but can still stir the soul. Who will progress to round five? Have a read of our preview here:

Warburton’s slice of luck

Bread puns aside, Mark Warburton is a very good manager and despite some tricky spells, has been able to do a lot better with this QPR side than many in pre-season thought.

The 1-0 win against Leeds on Saturday was slightly fortuitous but he’ll take that all day long against Bielsa’s highly talented outfit.

They will want to see if the FA Cup can bring in a bit of a cash boost, a scenario that could also be achieved by selling star man Ebere Eze with the January window wide open.

The 5-1 demolition of Swansea in the third round was a superb performance from the Super Hoops and more of the same will delight the Loftus Road faithful. Other than Eze, key players like energetic full-back Ryan Manning and striker Jordan Hugill will have a big say on Friday in what should be an entertaining cup match.

We’ve lost our Fletcher

Steven Fletcher has had somewhat of a renaissance for Sheffield Wednesday this season. The former Sunderland striker has found the net 12 times to lead the Owl’s scoring charts but a knee injury has put pay to that.

Fletcher is set for a 12-week layoff and Wednesday now need to find goals from elsewhere. They failed spectacularly on Saturday when they were trounced 5-0 at home by mid-table Blackburn, a result which saw the Yorkshire club slide out of the play-off spots in a very tight Championship table.

Garry Monk described it as a ‘horrible’ experience as his men fell to their fourth defeat in the last five.

Friday night’s FA Cup fourth-round trip to London will be a welcome distraction and a chance to put right all of Saturday’s wrongs.

They will be without Massimo Luongo, who saw red midway through the first half adding to Garry Monk’s woes, but a decent cup run can help to arrest the disappointment from the last game.

Beating Premier League Brighton on their own patch was an impressive result from round three and this will be encouraging to Wednesday supporters as they head south on Friday. The Yorkshire giants have a rich history in this competition so it would be good to see them have a decent run in this year’s affair.

QPR v Sheffield Wednesday betting tip

Cup football is great as there really is nothing to lose. It is a one-off match-up where the winner takes all and so we are backing both teams to score at odds of 3/4 with bet365.

Bet Both teams to score on Bet365