Queens Park Rangers

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QPR head coach Julien Stephan believes the foundations are in place for his side to improve next season.

They were powerless to stop Ipswich Town's route to automatic promotion on the final day as the Hoops ended the campaign in 15th on the back of four straight losses.

But for Frenchman Stephan, in his first season in charge in west London, it has been a very useful learning experience.

"It was a season with a lot of ups and downs, I think like many, many teams in this league, but the main thing is I don't know which is the level of this group," he said.

"So it was a strong experience and it's really important now to think about the future.

"It's a good project, good fans, good management, good mentality into the dressing room, so we have some good foundations.

"I said to the players before the game it will probably be a wild 15-20 minutes on the pitch and they started as expected, very strongly, but we didn't find a way to respond in terms of intensity and they killed us in the first 15 minutes.

"After we found a way to respond it was better in the second half, but we didn't find a way to score."

Ipswich Town's draw at Southampton on Tuesday night has taken the race to secure the Championship's second automatic promotion place to the final day of the season.

A win for Ipswich over QPR (12:30 BST) would earn them an immediate return to the Premier League, anything less could open the door for Millwall or Middlesbrough.

• After winning the reverse meeting 4-1 in November, Ipswich could complete the league double over QPR for the first time since 2009-10.

• QPR have kept a clean sheet in each of their past three league visits to Ipswich (W1 D2), as many as their previous 12 beforehand.

• Excluding the curtailed 2019-20 season, Ipswich are unbeaten in their final league game of their past six seasons outside of the Premier League (W4 D2) since a 3-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest in 2016-17.

• QPR have won their final league game in four of the past five seasons (L1), including their past two in a row; the Hoops last ended the season with a league win 3+ years running from 1991-92 to 1994-95 (4 in a row).

• Ipswich Town have lost just one of their past 43 home Championship matches (W28 D14), a 3-0 defeat to Charlton in October this season.

QPR boss Julien Stephan spoke to BBC Radio London after his side's 3-2 defeat to Derby County:

"It's a lot of frustration, a game like this. I think we played an amazing 60 minutes – normally a game like this it's bringing three or four goals after 60 minutes.

"We took our chances but probably not enough, so it stayed alive.

"We know exactly what team they are, a physical team able to score on set pieces.

"I think we played very well, good football, dynamic football, strong ambition to create danger [and] score some goals."

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Derby will seek to keep up their fight for a Championship play-off place when they visit QPR on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

The Rams are eighth, two places and four points behind sixth-placed Wrexham after Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat at Norwich.

It was a third straight away defeat for John Eustace's side and a sixth in seven games on the road.

QPR are adrift in mid-table, sat 13th, after a 2-1 home defeat to Swansea the same night.

The Hoops are winless in four and though a top-10 place remains within their grasp with two games remaining, Julien Stephan's men could fall as low as 17th if results elsewhere go against them

• QPR have won both of their past two home league games against Derby County, only once before winning three in a row (from March 1981 to September 1982).

• After their 1-0 win in October, Derby are looking for their first league double over QPR since the 2016-17 season.

• Queens Park Rangers have lost their final home league game in three of the past four seasons (W1), more than their previous 10 beforehand (W7 D1 L2).

• Derby have won their final away league game in both of the past two seasons, only once before doing so more times in a row in the club's history – a run of four from 1891-92 to 1894-95.

• Derby have lost six of their past seven away league games (W1); no side has lost more times on the road in the Championship since the start of this period (21 February).

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Neither can go up, neither can go down, but there's more than pride at stake as QPR host Swansea on Tuesday night (19:45 BST).

Just one point separates seven teams in the middle of the Championship pack and a victory for the Hoops would end a three-match winless streak and could take Julien Stephan's side into the top-10.

Swansea are four places below Rangers, but just a point back, and could also jump into the top-10 with a victory, depending on results elsewhere.

• Following their 1-0 win in October, QPR are looking to complete the league double over Swansea for the first time since 1979-80.

• Swansea are unbeaten in their past six away league games against QPR (W3 D3), winning this fixture 2-1 last season.

• QPR are unbeaten in their past three home league games (W2 D1), though have failed to score in three of their previous five on home soil, as many times as in their prior 24 matches.

• Swansea, who won 1-0 at Leicester in their last away league game, are looking to win successive league matches on their travels for the first time since April last season, beating Sunderland and QPR on that occasion.

• Swansea's Zan Vipotnik has scored in each of his past two away league games; he's yet to score in three successive away league matches for the Swans.

QPR boss Julien Stephan spoke to BBC Radio London after his side's 2-0 defeat at Millwall:

"We knew before the game that we needed to impact immediately the game in terms of intensity, to win second balls.

"And unfortunately, it was not the case, and was probably a big limit. We showed some big limits in the first half. This is the reality of this game.

"We need to learn from that. It's really important for the future."

Third-placed Millwall go into Saturday's London derby having only picked up one win in their past five Championship outings.

That dip in form has seen the Lions slip two points adrift of second-placed Ipswich.

But a win here would push Alex Neil's side up into the automatic promotion spots with the Tractor Boys hosting Middlesborough on Sunday.

QPR, who sit 11th in the Championship, make the journey across London having drawn their past two games and are 10 points off the play-offs before Saturday's (12:30 BST) kick-off.

• Millwall have won four of their past six league games against QPR (D1 L1) and are looking to complete the double over the Hoops for the first time since 1988-89.

• QPR have lost their past two league games against Millwall, last having a longer losing run against them between 1937 and 1953 (4).

• Millwall have only won one of their past five Championship games (D2 L2), after winning four in a row prior to this run. They've also lost their past two home league games, last losing three in a row in November 2023.

• QPR are unbeaten in their past five Championship matches (W3 D2) and could equal their longest run without defeat under Julien Stephan (six between August and October 2025).

• Femi Azeez has been directly involved in 15 goals in the Championship this season (eight goals, seven assists). Six of his seven assists have been from open play, with Jed Wallace in 2019-20 (seven) the last Millwall player to make more than six open play assists in a Championship campaign.

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QPR boss Julien Stephan told BBC Radio London: "It was a tight game between well-organised teams. It was difficult for both sides to find the space.

"When we had opportunities, there were technical issues in the last third with finding the last pass or a good finish.

"It is a clean sheet. The last one was Charlton over two months ago.

"It is a good run for us, five games unbeaten. We knew Bristol City were a good opponent in good form. We didn't find a way today but we continue the process."

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Queens Park Rangers head coach Julien Stephan has heaped praise on Bristol City boss Roy Hodgson prior to their game at Loftus Road on Saturday (12:30 BST).

Hodgson returned to the Robins 44 years after his original spell to help the side regroup at the end of the season following the sacking of Gerhard Struber.

"I know his name, his background, I know everything that he did during his career," Stephen told BBC Radio London.

"He's a big, big person and a big coach and a big manager. A lot of respect, it will be an honour to see him on the bench, but be sure that the only objective for me and for the club is to beat Bristol City."

Though Stephan's admiration is not only for Hodgson's past achievements - it is also for his longevity in the game.

"I think I will have the same patience, but I don't think I will have the strength to be on the bench until 78 years old," Stephen added.

"That why I have only one word - it's respect. Respect for the person, respect as well for the desire and the willingness to continue, to fight and to compete on the bench.

"He's achieved a lot of things during his career and it's fantastic to see that."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds

Listen to more Queens Park Rangers content on BBC Sounds

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The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

Only goal difference separates these two sides in 12th and 11th place respectively in the Championship table.

They are both nine points short of the play-off places before Saturday's game kicks off (12:30 BST).

• QPR are unbeaten in five league games against Bristol City (W2 D3), and are looking to complete the league double over the Robins for the first time since 2002-03.

• Bristol City are unbeaten in their past eight away league games against QPR (W5 D3), with their past two visits finishing level.

• Queens Park Rangers have picked up 10 points in their past four Championship matches, more than in their previous 11 games combined (W2 D3 L6).

• Since Roy Hodgson arrived at Bristol City, the Robins are the only side to win both of their matches in the Championship. A victory in this game would see him equal his total from his 20 league games in charge of them during the 1981-82 season (W3 D5 L12).

• No side has benefitted from more own goals in the Championship this season than QPR (6, level with Ipswich), drawing 1-1 with Preston last time out thanks to a Thierry Small own goal.

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QPR boss Julien Stephan said the manner and style of his side's 2-1 victory over Watford was more pleasing than the 6-1 thrashing of Portsmouth in their last home game.

"If I have to compare the two games, I prefer this one to the Portsmouth game, even if the score is only 2-1," the Frenchman said after the win at Loftus Road.

"How we played today, defensively and offensively, no comparison for me. I prefer this game.

"We deserved to win the Portsmouth game, but probably not 6-1.

"If we continue to play like today, we will have a bigger chance of getting more points."