Sheff Wed vs QPR Prediction: Ugbo in the goals in tight affair

Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers. Two teams who appeared doomed at one stage of last season but were then backed in the summer to make a big leap up the Championship table. They meet at Hillsborough on Saturday with neither having got off to a flyer (kick-off 15:00 BST).

Wednesday have lost three straight since hammering Plymouth Argyle on opening day, while Rangers have picked up form since their day-one defeat to West Bromwich Albion. Sheff Wed vs QPR predictions will not be straight-forward, therefore.

Team News

Wednesday might just have a defensive crisis on their hands, and not just in terms of their form. Having conceded nine goals in three games, the Owls might now be without three of their four recognised centre-halves.

Dominic Iorfa missed the trip to Millwall last time out with an injury, and now Michael Ihiekwe joins him as a doubt for Saturday’s clash.

Throw in the fact that Di’Shon Bernard has only just returned from an intercontinental flight after Jamaica duty, and Danny Rohl has a decision on his hands.

The easy choice would be to chuck Bernard straight in alongside Aakin Famewo. But Rohl has never been one for risking a player who has returned from international camp.

In his press conference this week he cited the loss of Bernard for six matches in March and April after he was injured in the warm-up straight after just such a break. So there is a suggestion that if he’s not 100 per cent convinced the defender is ready, then one of Yan Valery and Liam Palmer might be asked to switch to centre-back.

There ought to be other changes after the submission at Millwall, with an extra pair of hands in midfield a possibility alongside Barry Bannan and Shea Charles, while Jamal Lowe could make way after returning on the same flight as Bernard from Jamaica’s pair of fixtures over the last 10 days.

QPR boss Marti Cifuentes has called the two-week interruption “a useful reset” despite the momentum built up by the 2-1 win at Luton Town just before the pause.

Lucas Andersen has reacted well to the 15 minutes he played against Luton having missed the 1-1 home draw against nine-player Plymouth, and he got another hour under his belt during the break when the R’s drew 0-0 with Brentford in a private friendly.

Ilias Chair and Morgan Fox have both missed the entire season so far due to injury. Chair has been sidelined by a bone bruise in his lower back, while Fox has been out with a similar back issue. While both have returned to the training field, Cifuentes has urged caution in their timeline.

Sheff Wed vs QPR Odds

As home side, Wednesday get the slight nod from Betfred as 13/10 favourites, implying a 43.5% chance of victory. QPR are 11/5 (31.3%) and the draw is available at 9/4.

Draw @ 9/4

This is where the Wednesday fan in me is conflicted. I still have confidence that this season will be nothing like the last one, where the Owls were left struggling throughout. But I’ve also seen with my own two eyes what has gone on in the last few games.

Wednesday left gaps galore in midfield in successive defeats to Sunderland (0-4), Leeds United (0-2) and Millwall (0-3), and there’s a worry that Rohl doesn’t have the resilience and game smarts in this squad that everyone might have believed.

What the home crowd at S6 really needs right now is another result and performance like the one against Plymouth. Thirty shots, four goals, bags of exciting play, 29,000 smiling faces, and Boney M’s ‘Daddy Cool’ playing loud and proud on the PA at full-time. That’s what we’re after.

But I don’t know whether this side is ready to simply flick that switch just now, and in QPR they face a team that should be arriving at Hillsborough with a chip on its shoulder. They were brilliant under Cifuentes last year, but came unstuck twice against the Owls.

The 2-1 defeat from a leading position in the last 10 minutes has regularly been cited by the Spaniard as a moment of real learning for him and his team, and I don’t think they make that same mistake twice.

I reckon these two will take something away from a tight encounter, with both sides scoring potentially. I’m not confident enough in it not being 0-0 to mix this into the BTTS market, so 9/4 will do me with all options on the table.

Football Odds

Ike Ugbo anytime goal scorer @ 2/1

This fella came into the Sheffield Wednesday set-up in January and transformed the side in the final third.

Now back for a more after a reported £3 million permanent move from Troyes, the Canada international has gradually worked himself up to match fitness having only signed on the dotted line on the brink of the season starting.

He netted the equaliser in the 5-1 Carabao Cup win at Grimsby Town in August, and made his first start in the league at Millwall immediately after. But this game ought to see him in the first XI at Hillsborough, and when he did that last season he very rarely failed to shine.

With Wednesday having gone three league matches without so much as a goal, Ugbo’s scoring boots need to be ready for action on Saturday.

You can read all our latest Football Betting Tips at our dedicated Betfred Insights content hub.