Apologies for the headline – I was struggling!

United travel to Loftus Road tomorrow evening hoping to get their season back on track following Saturday’s defeat by Sheffield United. Rangers are currently ninth in the fledgling Championship table while the weekend’s defeat saw the U’s drop back into the bottom three.

Happier times as Jeremy Charles scores United’s third goal in THAT game (Photo by Colorsport/Shutterstock)

Last season’s equivalent game was arguably the poorest game of football I’ve witnessed for a very long time. Both teams were abysmal, QPR marginally less so than the U’s, who contrived to gift the home side a couple of goals. It was, ultimately, the game that did for Des, Buckingham getting the bullet after the following Saturday’s home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday. But it was the Rangers game that demonstrated his system’s failure and which made up the minds of the board.

There is no similar Sword of Damocles hanging over Gary Rowett’s head. Despite the difficult start to the season, United’s manager has plenty of credit in the bank and there is still a lot of optimism among supporters for the club’s prospects this season.

A good performance and result tomorrow will go a long way to justifying that optimism, although you have to go back to December 1969 for Oxford’s last win on QPR turf. Indeed, the Yellows have garnered just one point from their last seven visits to Loftus Road, so if that’s your factor for determining tomorrow’s outcome, you’ve got a job on your hand persuading others that everything will be alright.

You’d also be hard pressed to convince others about our chances if you take the record as a whole, with Oxford way behind the Shepherd’s Bush side on that metric too, having won just eight of the 31 meetings so far, compared to Rangers’ 17 victories.

Still, there’s always the 1986 League Cup to fall back on (dammit, I promised myself I wouldn’t mention that).

See Oxford’s full record against QPR here.

On This Day

If your preferred measurement of our chances is looking back at previous results on the same date, then you have more reason for optimism. The last time Oxford lost on 1st October was at Chester City in 1994, since when the U’s have played eight times on this date without tasting defeat.

It was one year ago to the day that Oxford went to Luton and fought back from 2-0 down to earn a creditable draw. Meanwhile, in 2016, in Oxford’s first season back in League One, the Yellows earned a 2-0 win at Bolton Wanderers.

Check out all Uniteds’ 1st October games HERE.

The Match

QPR started the season winning just one point from their three opening games, culminating in their 7-1 thrashing at Coventry City. That must have been their Bolton reset moment, because since then they won three on the bounce before last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday. They are unbeaten at home so far, winning two and drawing once at Loftus Road.

Rangers’ dangerman would appear to be former Wycombe striker Richard Kone, who has scored three goals in his six appearances, although he has failed to find the net in their last two outings. However, the hosts are missing two important forwards, with both Ilias Chair and Kwame Poku sidelined. They are also without centre-back Jake Clarke-Salter.

Oxford remain without Ciaron Browne, Ole Romeny, and Matt Phillips, although centre back Ben Davies was back in Saturday’s squad, albeit without making it onto the pitch. We are also unsure on the status of right-back Hidde ter Avest, who has been absent from the last three fixtures.

There are, we think, bound to be some changes from Saturday’s starting line-up, with this being the second of three games in a week. So Davies could come in to replace Sam Long in defence, while Rowett will have to decide whether or not to rest Jack Currie and bring in Greg Leigh.

I can’t see either Brian De Keersmaecker or Cameron Brannagan being rested, so the main decisions for the head coach are up top. Will Lankshear had a frustrating time against the Sheffield defence, but there remains precious little competition in the #9 role unless Mark Harris has a complete turnaround in form.

On the wings, the choice appears to be Przsemysłav Płacheta or Stan Mills on the right and Filip Krastev and Siriki Dembélé on the left, while Nik Prelec and Luke Harris are the only obvious #10 players in the squad.

This isn’t a prediction, more a forlorn hope: if Rowett picks the right team based on his analysts’ advice, Oxford should be able to at least compete against QPR. Our wish for a clean sheet against the Blades didn’t come to pass, so we’ll move it onto this fixture. 0-0 will do, anything better will also be acceptable.