Queens Park Rangers v Luton Town: Back the home win at 31/20 | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Ryan Deeney previews Queens Park Rangers v Luton Town in the EFL Championship

A hectic EFL schedule finishes on Monday night as Queens Park Rangers host Luton Town at the MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium...

Queens Park Rangers v Luton TownMonday 6th January, 20:00Live on Sky Sports

An important three points up for grabs

Both Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town have endured their difficulties during the EFL Championship campaign but as one side rise, the other are falling.

The two sides have already met this season, QPR getting the better of recently relegated Luton Town with a win from behind on the road, Jimmy Dunne's own goal cancelled out by two goals in three minutes.

That was the West London club's only victory across their opening 16 matches while Luton Town appeared to recover sufficiently, returning from the international break to beat both Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday.

However, both sides now find themselves six and two points above the dropzone respectively, with the three points on offer likely to have a big impact for both clubs.

S-Marti Cifuentes turning things around

For the first third of this Championship season, Marti Cifuentes found himself fielding questions and raising concerns around recruitment and the control he is able to wield to improve the fortunes of Queens Park Rangers.

Despite the poor results, fans backed the 42-year-old Spaniard and have been rewarded for their faith. His side have pulled away from the relegation places having collected 19 points from their last 10 matches.

There have been two important reasons for the turnaround in form. The first is improvement defensively, conceding around 0.3xG less per game which has helped solidify the side, something that was so important in their run to survival last season. They conceded over 1xG in 11 of their first 15 league games and just four of their last ten.

And their form at home is much improved. Rangers have won their last four matches at home, seeing off Norwich City, Oxford United, Preston North End and Watford, conceding just twice in the process having given up a combined 1.4xG. That is important given QPR have scored in all but one home match - against promotion chasing Sunderland.

Blue Monday afoot for Luton?

Following defeat against Norwich City, Rob Edwards completed an interview in which he was defiant about not wanting to walk away from the job at Luton Town. It's reaching the point where you wonder if he could be put out of his misery.

The Hatters are the only side over the Christmas period not to have collected a single point and just one of five across the entire EFL.

Meanwhile, their form on the road is awful, particularly when you consider they were in the Premier League last season. Luton have lost their last nine away from home, conceding 2 or more in eight of those and conceded at least 1.3xG in eight.

They aren't creating many chances - they have created more than 1xG in just four of their 12 away outings - have consistently underperformed in both boxes, have been able to field a consistent XI owing to injury problems and enter this one without key men Alfie Doughty and Jordan Clark.

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Back Queens Park Rangers to win @ 31/20