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Championship returns with 6th v 1st clash
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Nathan Tella backed to strike at Loftus Road
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QPR v Burnley
Sunday 11 December 13.00
Live on Sky Sports Main Event
Form Opposites
This fixture is 6th vs 1st in the Championship. But based on the form table (the last six fixtures before the World Cup break), it's 1st vs 24th.
Burnley flew into the World Cup break at the top of the table and in serious form, racking up seven wins in their last nine league games. After some much-needed rest and extra training time with the impressive Vincent Kompany, expect Burnley to look uber-confident.
It's difficult to have a strong steer on Queens Park Rangers heading into this game. Mick Beale has left them to manage Glasgow Rangers, with understandable bitterness at the manner of his departure.
Paul Hall has been in interim charge at Loftus Road with Neil Critchley expected to be hired either shortly before or after this fixture.
Rangers' rough patch
Although there's uncertainty about their preparation for this game, it seems fair to suggest that the QPR players will be high on motivation, with a new manager to impress. The Loftus Road faithful will surely welcome their team back from the World Cup break with huge support and a loud atmosphere.
Interestingly, this is QPR's first home match against a current top half team and a big test for the players. It will also be the first time this season that QPR will play without Ilias Chair, still at the World Cup.
None of their strikers were in great form before the break, so the responsibility on the excellent Chris Willock will be immense.
Burn-celona's fortune Tella
Burnley have scored scored 16 goals in their last eight and are clearly the best attacking team in the division, only failing to score once in 21 matches. But there's hope for QPR in the fact that Burnley are not particularly reliable defensively, keeping only two clean sheets in 10 away from home.
Unfortunately, the 'Both Teams To Score - Yes' price of 1.738/11 seems too skinny.
Instead, let's pick a column-favourite Anytime Goalscorer: Nathan Tella. On loan from Southampton, Tella is clearly a favourite of Kompany's - starting 16 games in a row before a rest in their last match, against Blackburn.
With Anass Zaroury still in Qatar with Morocco, who take on Portugal in Saturday's first World Cup quarter-final, Tella is highly likely to start.
He's scored six goals in those 16 starts and is a constant menace, whether cutting in off the wing or making intelligent runs in behind.
With QPR's full-backs naturally attack-minded and their centre-backs not the quickest, there should be space for Tella to exploit.
Stats of 0.43 goals per 90 this season is a strong return for a player in his position, and makes Tella's anytime goalscorer price of 5.0 highly appealing.