Newly energised Baggies head to west London

Queen’s Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion; Loftus Road, Saturday 6th December 2025, 3pm

Ryan Mason has some decisions to make ahead of the trip to west London to take on QPR after four substitutions transformed his team’s performance against Swansea City last time out. One of them has been partially taken out of his hands, but there are still some choices to make as to who will start at Loftus Road ahead of another three-game week.

Nat Phillips picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the first half last weekend before being substituted at half time along with Price, Gilchrist and Iling-Junior, which means he will be suspended this weekend. Bielik, Maja, Campbell and Grant all did well as replacements and no one would be surprised to see all four start at Loftus Road on Saturday.

Isaac Price is, perhaps, the one that is most likely to return to the side from the four taken off at half time. He is undoubtedly a talented footballer and was Albion’s leading light in the early part of the season. His influence has waned in recent weeks, however, potentially due to fatigue – as well as starting every game for the Baggies, he has also been an ever-present for his country meaning that he has already played 25 games this season, all from the start. Given how well Maja worked with Heggebø against the Swans, I definitely think it is time to give the young man a rest.

As well as the personnel, Baggies fans would also like to see the same intensity and attacking intent that we saw in the second half against Swansea. Mason has said that he will always adjust his tactics to suit the challenges and opportunities that each opponent brings, but it seems that Mikey Johnston playing on the right side makes Albion look more dangerous, with Aune Heggebø in particular benefitting from the potent delivery from the Irish international. Of course, MJ can be very dangerous cutting in from the left, but the potential for creating chances for the team as a whole looks to be much greater from the right.

Of course, it is not just one tactical tweak that is needed to transform Albion’s attacking play, it is an overall drive to be positive, and the confidence to make those tricky forward passes to open up the opposition. We saw that last weekend, potentially driven by desperation when 2-0 at home to a struggling side, but that it worked will hopefully bring the confidence to play that way again and, if it works again, the effects can snowball.

QPR have had a somewhat mixed season with an almost random set of results. The 7-1 defeat to Coventry City in August and a 4-1 home defeat by Ipswich Town at the beginning of November are obvious low points, but they have also won 2-1 at Bristol City and 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers. Last weekend, however, they became the first team to suffer defeat at Carrow Road this season, a result that leaves them on the same record as Albion but just below them on the table on goal difference.

Rangers have struggled at Loftus Road lately with their 3-2 win over Hull City a fortnight ago their only win in their last five at home. Julien Stéphan, who was appointed head coach in the summer, hailed that as their best performance of the season as they twice came from behind to claim the points, but he admitted they lacked intensity in their defeat to Norwich City last time out. Like Albion, inconsistency is an issue and it is no surprise to see both of them solidly in mid-table.

Summer signing Rumarn Burrell has been the stand-out performer this season with his seven goals making him the club’s top scorer, while Richard Kone and Kōki Saitō have added to their attacking options alongside long-time talisman, Ilias Chair. Another new face that has impressed is centre back, Amadou Mbengue, who joined from Reading.

Former Baggie, Sam Field, has found his opportunities more limited under the new boss and has spent half of the season on the bench despite captaining the side on the opening day. More surprisingly, his recent starts have all been at left back rather than his usual midfield berth, so he may find himself up against Mikey Johnston on Saturday.

Loftus Road has been a happy hunting ground for Albion of late and the sold-out travelling contingent will be hopeful of another three points. With their next two matches against in form Southampton and Sheffield United, it would be a very useful victory.

History

The Baggies have an excellent recent record against QPR having lost just one of the last twelve meetings between the sides. The first match in that run was the 7-1 victory at the Hawthorns under Darren Moore while the most recent was the 1-0 home win in March. That completed a league double after the unexpected 3-1 win in this fixture last season when Josh Maja scored Albion’s first opening day hat trick for more than a century.

Rangers’ only success in the last decade was a 1-0 win in January 2022 that heightened the pressure on beleaguered Baggies boss, Valérien Ismaël, who would last just three further games before being relieved of his duties with Albion having dropped to fifth after a promising start to the season – they would finish tenth.

Albion’s previous defeat at Loftus Road also came shortly before their manager was sacked. Just before Christmas 2014, Alan Irvine’s team surrendered a two goal lead given to them by goals from Joleon Lescott and Silvestre Varela (both players scoring their only goals for the club) when future Baggie Charlie Austin scored a hat trick to take all three points for Harry Redknapp’s team. Irvine’s defeat at Stoke City eight days later proved to be his last game in charge with Tony Pulis in place for the 7-0 FA Cup victory over Gateshead on 3rd January 2015.

The last Baggies manager to last longer than a couple of weeks after defeat at Loftus Road was Roberto di Matteo. His team’s 3-1 defeat in March 2010 proved to be Albion’s last reverse of the season as they won the next five on the bounce and finished the campaign with a twelve match unbeaten run to secure a return to the Premier League.

Stat Attack

Current Form

All competitions; most recent game on the right

Last matches

Last meeting

8 Mar 2025 – League Championship
West Bromwich Albion 1 (Armstrong (pen))
Queen’s Park Rangers 0

Last meeting at Queen’s Park Rangers

10 Aug 2024 – League Championship
Queen’s Park Rangers 1 (Andersen)
West Bromwich Albion 3 (Maja (3))

Albion’s Record against Queen’s Park Rangers