Crystal Palace are set to travel to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium to face Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday evening in the third round of the 2024-25 EFL Cup.
The hosts defeated Cambridge United and Luton Town in the first two rounds, while the visitors comfortably progressed past Norwich City with a 4-0 win in the second round.
Match preview
After finishing ninth and 11th in 2020-21 and 2021-22, QPR rapidly dropped down the Championship table and have instead found themselves competing in a relegation battle in the last two years.
They placed 20th in 2022-23, just six points above the drop zone, before placing 18th last season, once again holding just a six-point lead over the bottom three.
Following those disappointing campaigns, Marti Cifuentes, who joined the club in October 2023, will be delighted with the manner in which his men have started the new term.
They did suffer a 3-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on the opening day despite taking an initial 1-0 lead, but they have remained unbeaten in the six matches since then, with three wins and three draws.
Cifuentes's men will have a difficult time in their attempts to extend that streak when they face Crystal Palace on Tuesday, although the Premier League side have struggled in the opening phases of 2024-25.
The Eagles were one of the best-performing sides at the end of the last Premier League campaign, with Oliver Glasner, who took over in February, leading them to six wins and a draw in their final seven league fixtures.
Palace also enjoyed a fantastic pre-season, going unbeaten in their five friendly matches, but they have been unable to translate that form into the new season, recording just one win across all competitions.
That victory came against Norwich in their EFL Cup second-round tie, leaving them with just two points from four Premier League fixtures with two draws and two losses.
Glasner will be hoping his side can return to winning ways against QPR on Tuesday, especially as his team prepare for a potentially challenging match against Manchester United at the weekend.
Team News
Sam Field is unlikely to be available for selection for the hosts after the midfielder was forced off in the 46th minute of their draw with Sheffield Wednesday last time out.
Ilias Chair is also not expected to be involved with the matchday squad due to an ongoing back issue that he is not expected to return from until later this month.
Crystal Palace will be without Chadi Riad, Matheus Franca and Trevoh Chalobah for this match due to all suffering injuries in recent matches.
Elsewhere, Glasner could opt to revert to the same side that secured their only victory of the campaign so far against Norwich in their last EFL Cup appearance.
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Walsh; Dunne, Cook, Morrison, Paal; Colback, Varane; Santos, Andersen, Madsen; Frey
Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Clyne, Guehi, Richards; Munoz, Hughes, Doucoure, Mitchell; Kamada, Eze; Mateta
We say: Queens Park Rangers 1-3 Crystal Palace
The hosts may be on a positive run of form while the visitors have been struggling of late, but Crystal Palace boast a much stronger squad and should comfortably win this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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