It’s Friday night under the lights in the Championship this week as Birmingham City welcome Queens Park Rangers to St Andrew’s, hoping to end their run of two losses. We preview this second tier clash by picking out the most eye-catching markets available to punters.

Team news

Birmingham boss John Eustace remains without a handful of key players which has really affected his squad depth in recent weeks. Defender Ethan Laird has suffered an injury setback and both he and Tyler Roberts remain sidelined for the foreseeable. Midfielder Alfie Chang is still out of action after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury a couple of weeks ago, and he will miss most of the season.

Winger Siriki Dembele returned to training on Monday, so he could have a role to play on Friday night. Lee Buchanan and Lukas Jutkiewicz will both be available for selection after serving their respective suspensions.

QPR’s only significant absentee on the injury front is defender Jimmy Dunne. Versatile midfielder Jack Colback continues to serve his three-game suspension following his red card against Sunderland last weekend.

Jay Stansfield to score anytime at 7/4

Fulham loanee Jay Stansfield has had an excellent start to his career with Birmingham, scoring three goals in his first four appearances. The 20-year-old was on the scoresheet in midweek as the Blues fell to a second straight defeat against Preston North End. And like Watford three days before, it was another game that they were very unlucky to lose.

Eustace will know how important Friday is to get his side back to winning ways. Despite two defeats, they remain inside the the top 10 and their bright start to the season doesn’t feel like it was just a honeymoon period following their summer takeover.

Their biggest issue right now is not being clinical enough when they are on top. Stansfield opened the scoring in the second half last time out but his side really should have been a goal or two to the good in the first half at Deepdale.

The good thing about Stansfield is that he is a natural-born finisher, who has so much composure in front of goal for a young player. You give him a good opportunity and you are confident he will put it away.

Birmingham to score in both halves at 21/10

Touching on from the point before, Birmingham need to be more ruthless against their opponents to avoid the gut-wrenching defeats, like they have suffered in the past week. A match back on home soil provides them with a great opportunity to start making the most of the chances they create.

They have some exciting attacking players who are all capable of getting on the scoresheet. Stansfield has started his loan spell brilliantly, and other forwards Scott Hogan and Jutkiewicz are proven scorers at this level.

And then there is the attacking talent behind the front men in Dembele, Koji Miyoshi and Keshi Anderson. After a tough week thus far, the players will be fired up to make amends for their mistakes in the last two matches, and they’ll be out to prove that they can put games to bed when they are on top.

QPR have had a poor start to the season in comparison to Birmingham, so on paper this should be a home win. The Blues just need to discover that clinical edge which could be the difference between a top six push or a mid-table finish.