Queens Park Rangers vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
Loftus Road StadiumAttendance12,287.
Watch live on Sky Sports Football Red Button and the Sky Sports app from 7.40pm on Wednesday; kick-off is at 7.45pm
Tuesday 20 August 2019 17:22, UK
QPR vs Swansea in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday evening, live on Sky Sports.
Coverage gets underway live on Sky Sports Football Red Button from 7.40pm, while kick-off is at 7.45pm.
QPR manager Mark Warburton could consider a change of goalkeeper for the Sky Bet Championship visit of Swansea. Joe Lumley was at fault for one of the goals in Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Bristol City, and he could pay the price for that error with Scotland U21 international Liam Kelly breathing down his neck.
Kelly joined from Livingston in June and has yet to make his league debut for the Hoops, but he was the hero in the Carabao Cup penalty shoot-out win against Bristol City. Lee Wallace remains the only injury concern with the hip problem that has prevented him from playing since moving south of the border from Rangers.
Nathan Dyer is in danger of missing out for Swansea after picking up a hamstring injury during the weekend win over Preston. But Swansea are not short of attacking options with Andre Ayew - who has not started a game for the club since May 2018 - Sam Surridge and Kristoffer Peterson all available.
George Byers, who scored the winner against Preston after coming on as a half-time substitute, is likely to return to the starting line-up. Boss Steve Cooper will keep faith with Joe Rodon after the young central defender's difficult week, the Wales U21 international having removed himself from social media after suffering abuse following the Preston game.
Former Brentford boss Mark Warburton's tenure as QPR boss has started in mixed fashion. Their 2-1 win at Stoke provided the perfect start against a play-off hopeful, before a 1-1 draw with Huddersfield at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium. The Rs then emerged victorious on penalties after the thrilling 3-3 draw with Bristol City in the Carabao Cup, but were brought back down to earth on Saturday when they lost 2-0 away at Bristol City.
Steve Cooper's first weeks at Swansea have been similarly fruitful, with league wins against Hull and Preston, a goalless draw with Derby and a 3-1 cup win at home to Northampton, where Ayew's late double helped the Swans avoid a potential banana skin.
After a short playing career, aged 27, Steve Cooper obtained his UEFA Pro Licence and set about forging a career in youth development, working for Wrexham, Liverpool and England along the way. It was during his time with the Three Lions U17s where his name became widely known after guiding a side, that included the likes of Phil Foden, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White, to World Cup glory in 2017.
He remained in the role for two further years, before adopting a new challenge, this time in senior football; Swansea have a reputation for appointing up-and-coming coaches and Cooper fits that profile to a tee. There were no big budget arrivals in the summer but, let's be honest, that's not something Cooper is used to working with anyway. His tenure has started encouragingly, with an unbeaten start and the trip to Loftus Road provides a decent opportunity to extend that.
QPR are looking for consecutive league wins over Swansea for the first time since February 1980.
Swansea's 0-4 defeat at Loftus Road against QPR in April 2019 was their heaviest league defeat of the 2018-19 season.
This will be the ninth successive meeting between QPR and Swansea at the Kylian Prince Foundation Stadium to see at least one managerial change in either dugout, with Steve Cooper becoming the eighth different manager to take charge of the Swans in those nine games (Jackett, Martinez, Sousa, Rodgers, Laudrup, Monk & Potter).
Queens Park Rangers are winless in their last four home games in all competitions (P4 W0 D2 L2), last going five straight matches without a win between September and October 2016.
Since Swansea's 0-4 loss to QPR in April, they have remained unbeaten in each of their last nine matches across all competitions (P9 W5 D4 L0), their longest such run since February 2018 (10 games).
Swansea striker Borja Bastón has scored three goals in his opening three league appearances this season, as many as in his final 22 league games for Alavés in LaLiga last season.
David Prutton predicts: 1-0 (13/2)
