Leeds United desperately need a win at QPR on Saturday, in a bid to keep themselves in 1st place of the Championship table for the March international break.
If the last few weeks has taught us anything, it’s that Sheffield United and Burnley will take the Championship title race right to the bitter end.
Leeds United could do more to help themselves, though. Defeat at Portsmouth last weekend highlighted some flaws in the side, the main being consistency and an inability to regularly beat teams lower down in the standings.
But Daniel Farke made Championship history after watching his side beat Millwall 2-0 on Wednesday night, setting the record for the fastest time to reach 50 Championship wins in charge of one club, doing so in just 83 games.
And QPR have pulled themselves out of trouble in the last few months. The West Londoners sit in 14th place of the Championship table and are now nine points clear of the drop zone.
But they’ll fancy their chances against Leeds, with recent history certainly on their side.
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Leeds United’s dismal record away vs QPR
Farke suffered the heaviest defeat of his Leeds tenure towards the back end of last season, watching on as his side were thumped 4-0 by QPR at Loftus Road. It was a win that saw the Hoops secure their Championship safety in a rather great escape under Marti Cifuentes.
In fact, QPR are a bit of a bogey team for Leeds who’ve lost their last four games away at QPR. Leeds won the reverse fixture 2-0 earlier this season but they’ve not won away at Loftus Road since December 2017.
And to make matters even more choppy ahead of Saturday, the EFL have announced that Tim Robinson will be the referee for this one: Leeds have a patchy record under his watch with just seven wins from 18, and six defeats.
Last time Robinson refereed a Leeds game was the 2-2 draw at Sunderland earlier this season.
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Kieran McKenna fuming with Tim Robinson after Ipswich Town controversy
One of the many refereeing controversies of this season came during Ipswich Town’s 1-1 draw with Leicester City earlier in the season.
McKenna was left fuming after his side were denied what he thought was an obvious penalty, and again when former Leeds man Kalvin Phillips was shown a debatable second yellow card in the game.
The Ipswich boss told the press after that game: “I think it was the defining moment in the match, it’s clear we were the better team when it was 11 v 11, and we should go 2-0 up.
“I think it’s a clear penalty and should have been given straight away… I don’t think it’s a debatable one. And to compound that with a bouncing ball, and both players have the right to go for the challenge, and Kalvin’s tried to pull out.
“In the context of the game to compound it by giving a second yellow is unacceptable, in my opinion, for the referee to put himself into the centre of the match like that.”
Leeds and Farke may have one eye on the referee for Saturday’s game at QPR. And they may also fear history repeating itself in this one too. But Leeds have the better squad and if they play their best game, they’ll come away with another vital three points.
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