Queens Park Rangers

A potential move to take the Championship play-offs down to eighth place would damage the competition's credibility, according to former Huddersfield, Stoke and Middlesbrough defender Tommy Smith.

The EFL board is set to discuss proposals to increase the number of teams in the end-of-season play-offs from four to six but Smith, who was promoted to the Premier League with Huddersfield via the play-offs in 2017 is not a fan of the idea.

"It's not for me - I think it suits teams who don't really have a chance to get in the top six," he told the BBC's EFL podcast 72+.

"From a credibility point of view the top six is there to be aimed at and you have to earn your place in it."

The play-offs were first introduced for the 1986-87 season where sides finishing third down to fifth were involved along with the team third-from-bottom in the top flight.

After two seasons the format was changed to be played out between teams finishing third to sixth in the second tier.

"To finish eighth in the Championship and potentially get promoted to the Premier League it just doesn't sit right with me," added Smith.

"Notoriously over the past years getting into the top six is tough and when you get in there after a long hard season it feels brilliant, so to make it a top eight it dilutes it."

Image source, Getty Images

Queens Park Rangers head coach Julien Stephan admitted he came close to substituting Harvey Vale before the youngster scored his match-winning goal against Stoke City.

Vale struck in the 75th minute for his first Championship goal, curling a fine effort into the far corner.

Stephan said: "In the last 20 minutes I had a lot of hesitation and, to be honest, I imagined that Kaddie [Dembele] would enter the pitch for Harvey [Vale], yes. It was the plan.

"But we didn't change and in the last 15 minutes I felt the players were continuing to do well physically and to enter the pitch in these kind of games is not easy. So we chose to stay like this."

The win means the Rs have now won three consecutive games since their 7-1 defeat at Coventry City and Stephan added: "In the season you have some good moments and bad moments and that was a bad moment.

"It's finished now and we learned a lot. Now we have won three in a row, that is [also] finished and we have to be focused on the next games."

QPR go in search of a third straight Championship win when second-placed Stoke head to Loftus Road on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 BST).

Since the abject 7-1 defeat at Coventry, the Rs have won 3-1 against Charlton and then by the same scoreline at Wrexham last week.

Stoke bounced back from their first defeat of the season at home to West Brom with a 1-0 win over Birmingham last time out to sit a point behind pace-setters Middlesbrough.

• QPR have lost only one of their past eight home league games against Stoke City (W2 D5), a 2-0 defeat in December 2021.

• Stoke City have won two of their past three league meetings with Queens Park Rangers (D1), as many victories as they managed across their 11 games prior (W2 D4 L5).

• QPR forward Richard Kone has scored in three of his first four Championship appearances (three goals), netting in his last three in a row. Since 2004-05, only six players have netted in as many as four of their first five Championship appearances – Rob Hulse (2005), Diomansy Kamara (2006), Igor Vetokele (2014), Lyle Taylor (2019), Borja Baston (2019) and Ryan Hardie (2023).

• Stoke City have picked up 12 points in their first five Championship matches this season, their most in their opening five league games of a campaign since 1998-99 in the third tier (15).

• Stoke winger Sorba Thomas has progressed the ball 792 metres upfield with ball carries in the Championship this season, the most of any player, while he's also created the most chances following a ball carry (6).

Queens Park Rangers head coach Julien Stephan is happy with his side's new-found scoring ability, but said their next fixture against Stoke will be a "different game".

After a home draw against Preston in their Championship opener, the Rs lost 2-1 to Watford and suffered a 7-1 thumping by Coventry.

But their last two games have seen a turnaround in form, with two 3-1 wins against Charlton and Wrexham.

"We were happy to win the last two games," Stephan told BBC Radio London.

"But this is just a few steps and now we need to continue to work hard and prepare well for different games. It will be a completely different game against Stoke.

"It is good for the confidence and there is lots of smiles - but to keep going and work hard is the most important part for us."

QPR will face a Stoke side that have won four of their five league games - their only loss a 1-0 defeat to West Brom - and sit second in the Championship, a point behind early leaders Middlesbrough.

Stephan is open to changing QPR's formation - "If we play with four offensive players or attacking players plus one number eight and not two number sixes," he explained. "So, one six and one eight it is to score some goals.

"This is the philosophy and this is how we want to play, and I enjoy the fact we have scored three goals twice - but we need to find a good balance. We need to be strong as well defensively.

"Playing against Stoke I don't know if we will be able to score three goals; probably not as they have only conceded three goals in the beginning of the season. But we need to score one more than the opponent."

Listen to the full press conference with Stephan and more QPR content on BBC Sounds.

Morecambe have signed QPR midfielder Elijah Dixon-Bonner on loan until January.

The 24-year-old came through Liverpool's academy and made three appearances for the first team before joining the R's in October 2022.

Dixon-Bonner has made 28 Championship appearances and spent time on loan in Sweden with Vasteras earlier this year.

He could make his debut against Wealdstone on Saturday.

Wrexham host QPR aiming to make it three wins in a row in all competitions on Saturday (15:00 BST).

The Rad Dragons will be looking to build on an away win at Millwall as they face a QPR side off the back of a victory against fellow Londoners Charlton.

• Wrexham and QPR are meeting in the Football League for the first time since the 2003-04 season in the third tier, with the Rs winning both encounters 2-0.

• QPR have won four of their last six away league games against Wrexham (D1 L1).

• After beating Millwall 2-0 last time out, Wrexham are looking to win successive second tier games for the first time since March 1982 against Chelsea and Bolton Wanderers respectively.

• After beating Charlton Athletic 3-1, QPR are aiming to win successive league matches for the first time since recording four straight victories at the start of 2025.

• Wrexham's Kieffer Moore has scored three goals in his last two league games and is looking to score in three in a row for the first time since April-August 2022 (a run of four).

Queens Park Ranger boss Julien Stephan has praised summer signing Richard Kone's "commitment" to the team before their Championship match against Wrexham on Saturday (15:00 BST).

The Ivorian striker, who joined the Rs in August from Wycombe Wanderers, has scored twice across his three Championship appearances.

But for boss Stephan, it's not the 22-year-old's goalscoring prowess that has impressed the most.

"For a striker, it's very important to see how you can work for the team and more than goals, it's the way he plays for the team," Stephan told BBC Radio London.

"It's all the commitment with the team-mates when we have the ball, when we don't have the ball, how he's able to run and how he's able to give some space for the other players around him. How he's able to defend, how he's able to press the opponent.

"I'm very happy, of course, with the goals but I'm very happy with the commitment of the player."

Listen to the full press conference with Stephan and more QPR content on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Getty Images

QPR defender Liam Morrison has signed a new contract to extend his stay at Loftus Road although the Championship club have not disclosed the length of the deal.

The 22-year-old joined the London club in July 2024 from Bayern Munich and made 21 appearances in all competitions last season.

Morrison did not break into the Bayern first team and spent the 2023-24 season on loan with Wigan Athletic in League One before moving to QPR.

"Last season was my first full season in the Championship so I was getting used to it," he told the club website., external

"Now I need to kick on and prove to everyone what I can do."

QPR return to action away at Wrexham on 13 September after the international break.

Are Queens Park Rangers, Charlton or Millwall likely to strengthen before the transfer window shuts?

Find out in our visualised two-hour special show as we follow all of your club's deadline day business. Watch here at 18:00 BST.

Julien Stephan picked up his first win as QPR boss against Charlton Athletic at Loftus Road.

"Congratulations to the players, this is the most important. They play, I think they deserve the win today," he told BBC Radio London.

"They start very well for the first 20 minutes. The last 15 minutes [of the first half] we played too low on the pitch for me, so we tried to change some things at half-time.

"The players who came from the bench had a huge impact for the last 30 minutes.

"We had three more players this week which meant more options to start and more options to finish [the game].

"We can see today a huge impact at the end of the game – Koki Saito, [Rayan] Kolli, [Rumarn] Burrell.

"I'm very happy also for Ritchie Kone because he did a top game from the first second until the last second."

QPR will play Saturday's London derby against Charlton Athletic with a "spirit of revenge" after their 7-1 thrashing against Coventry City, head coach Julien Stephan said.

The Hoops were blown away by the Sky Blues and trailed 5-0 at half-time in last weekend's Championship defeat.

QPR have picked up just one point so far and are winless in all competitions since Stephan took over from Marti Cifuentes this summer.

And Stephan said he and his players had had a "studious" week evaluating the manner of their defeat at CBS Arena.

"It was the first time, so it's a new challenge," he told BBC Radio London.

"The most important is to stay focused with the players, to work with them, and you know, after this kind of game, the first difficulty is of course we need to understand what happened on the pitch because we need also to help the players and keep them to play with confidence.

"Because if you don't have any confidence on the pitch, it's impossible to play football."

Charlton have picked up four points from their first three games back in the second tier but come into the match on the back of two consecutive defeats - against Leicester City in the league and away at Cambridge United in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday.

Abdul Fatawu's 48th-minute winner was the first time the Addicks' defence had been breached in the league this season, and Stephan said the Rs are ready for a tough challenge on Saturday.

"It will be a completely different game, at home, a derby with a spirit of revenge," he said.

"We need to play with our identity but also play cleverly, and we need to be smart because it's not only revenge, it's also a football game, so we need to be very clear with the game plan and very clear with what we want to do on the pitch."

Listen to the full interview and more on BBC Sounds.

Two London rivals will seek to get back on track in different ways when Charlton head west across the capital to visit QPR on Saturday (12:30 BST).

The R's suffered a 7-1 drubbing at Coventry last Saturday and have picked up a single point from their opening three Championship games under Julien Stephan, while Nathan Jones' Addicks suffered their first defeat of the campaign, being edged out 1-0 by Leicester at the Valley on the same day.

• QPR are unbeaten across their past six home league games against Charlton Athletic (W4 D2) since a 4-2 defeat in October 1997 in the second tier.

• This will be the first league meeting between Charlton Athletic and QPR since a 1-0 win for the Addicks in June 2020. Overall, Charlton have won three of their past five head-to-head league clashes with their London counterparts (D1 L1).

• Last weekend, QPR were defeated 7-1 by Coventry, the 12th time that they've conceded 5+ goals in a Championship match since the EFL rebrand in 2004 – only Barnsley (17) and Huddersfield (13) have suffered that fate on more occasions in this time in the division.

• Charlton have scored the joint-fewest goals in the Championship this season (1), with this the first time the Addicks have scored one or fewer goals through their opening three league games of a campaign since 1970-71 (also one).

• Charlton have lost just one of their past eight league London derbies (W5 D2), though did lose their last in the second tier 2-1 against Brentford in July 2020.

Image source, Getty Images

QPR striker Zan Celar has joined German second tier side Fortuna Dusseldorf, external on a season-long loan.

The Slovenia international moved to Loftus Road from Swiss outfit Lugano last summer.

But the 26-year-old scored just two goals in 22 appearances last season, with both goals coming in a 2-0 win at Cardiff City in November.

He picked up a hamstring injury in December and did not play again last season but played in the Hoops' opening two Championship matches of this term.

QPR have signed Rumarn Burrell and Richard Kone this summer to bolster a strikeforce that also has Michael Frey and Rayan Kolli.

Nathan Albon
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Rex Features

Before the weekend QPR boss Julien Stephan said his side remains "under construction".

If that's so, the 7-1 demolition at Coventry makes me fear for what is left of his building site.

Conceding seven goals in a game for the first time in seven years, QPR only narrowly avoided equalling their club-record heaviest defeat.

If given the opportunity, the next few games will show what Stephan is made of and whether the Frenchman really knows his onions.

It might be time to put the reported £6m Ebere Eze sell-on to good use.