- Portsmouth have pulled clear of the relegation zone after a good run at Fratton Park
- QPR are 13th in the Championship but only four points off the play-offs
- Recommended bet: Portsmouth to win

Portsmouth’s only win in their opening 14 Championship games of the season came against QPR as they looked destined for a relegation scrap, but the south-coast outfit have dragged themselves away from the relegation zone with some decent results, particularly at home.

QPR, meanwhile, are sat in 13th place but start the weekend just four points off the play-offs, having won 4-0 at home to struggling Derby last week.

Team news

Pompey fear that Callum Lang’s hamstring injury could keep him out for the rest of the season while Jordan Williams, Conor Shaughnessy, Ibane Bowat, Jacob Farrell and Paddy Lane are also out. Freddie Potts faces a late fitness test.

Jake Clarke-Salter and Zan Celar are set to miss out for QPR while Daniel Bennie is on international duty. However, Lucas Andersen and Karamoko Dembele are set to be included in the squad.

The stats

Portsmouth have won five of their last seven home league games, while they have lost just one of their last 10 at Fratton Park.

QPR’s last 15 away Championship games have all featured fewer than four goals 

Just one of Rangers’ last 12 league games has ended in a draw.

QPR’s four Championship away wins have come against teams in the bottom five.

Prediction

The first couple of months of this Championship season were a nightmare for Portsmouth following their promotion and it looked as if they were destined for an immediate return to League One.

However, John Mousinho’s team have made a strong recovery and the threat has eased greatly as they have detached themselves from the strugglers, opening a seven-point gap to the bottom three.

Their strong home form has done a lot of the heavy lifting, but they demonstrated that they can get good results away from Fratton Park last week when they posted an impressive 2-0 win at Oxford, who had been playing well themselves.

That extra confidence looks set to be built upon in Saturday’s game against QPR, even though their visitors from London are just four points off the play-offs.

The difficulty for the Loftus Road outfit is that they have struggled with inconsistency at times and head south having lost their last two league away games at Millwall and Coventry.

Marti Cifuentes’s side have won four times on the road but all of those successes have come against teams who are still fighting against relegation — Hull, Plymouth, Cardiff and basement boys Luton.

So this trip to where Pompey have lost just once in their last 10 games could prove a step too far and Rangers may be unable to build upon last week’s 4-0 win over another team in poor form, Derby.

Back Portsmouth to win at 6/5 with LiveScore Bet.

Win up to £250,000 with LiveScore 6!

Win up to £250,000 with our free-to-play game, LiveScore 6!

Predict the score of all six LiveScore 6 fixtures for your chance to win. 18+, UK/Ireland residents only, T&Cs apply.