Swansea v QPR Competition - Sky Bet Championship Venue - Swansea.com Stadium Date - 26 December 2024 Kick off - 3pm Following their dreadful performance away at (then) bottom club Hull City, next up is a tricky looking home match against on form QPR. Last Saturday, Hull ended a 13-game winless streak as substitute Mason Burstow's late goal saw off the Swans and lifted the Tigers out of the Championship relegation zone. Ruben Selles looked like being denied a first Hull victory in his third game in charge after Harry Darling's fine header cancelled out Joao Pedro's deflected opener. But Hull were the better side throughout and the Swans, who produced arguably their poorest performance of the season, were deservedly beaten when Burstow picked off Lawrence Vigouroux's loose pass before beating the goalkeeper from 20 yards. That meant a much-needed maximum for Selles' new team, who had not tasted victory since 1 October. They climb from the bottom of the table to 21st, albeit with some of their relegation rivals in action later in the day. But there was more disappointment for Swans’ head coach Luke Williams, whose side drop to 11th having failed to muster any sort of response to last weekend's dispiriting defeat to Sunderland. The same day as the Swans lost to Hull, QPR earned a crucial victory over Preston North End thanks to Jimmy Dunne's 89th minute winner. A Milutin Osmajic goal midway through the first-half had earned Preston North End a half-time lead at Loftus Road before Rayan Kolli's leveller five minutes after the interval. With the scores level, Liam Lindsay was sent off for Preston who stay 17th following just one win in their last 12 league games. Dunne's late winner gave Rangers a victory which meant they moved up to 14th in the Championship table having extended their unbeaten run to seven games. The Swans have played QPR on 57 previous occasions, winning just 17, also drawing 17 but losing 23. In the corresponding fixture last season, QPR ran out 0-1 winners: Including the match above, the Swans have lost three of their previous four home meetings with QPR, losing each of those games by a 1-0 scoreline. Turning to Boxing Day, in many respects the Swans players owe the Jack Army a decent performance after 3 halves of woeful football. That said, they will be up against a team full of confidence: QPR went into the November international break at the bottom of the Championship table after mustering just 10 points from their opening 15 matches. However, they have since managed to put together a seven-game unbeaten run, moving them up to 14th position and seven points clear of the bottom three. So the Swans will have to be at the top of their game if they are to take the 3 points that they urgently need to try and get the show back on the road. Personally, I think that the Swans’ poor form will continue and that Rangers will run out 1-2 winners. Hope I’m wrong and that the Swans give us 3pts for Christmas
Long trip for our lot on Boxing Day, and our official twitter announced that 543 Rangers fans are making the trip. How many can your away end/section hold? Is it going to look pretty empty? As I've said before, always had a soft spot for Swansea as my Grandparents semi-retired to Gower, so I loved holidaying near your neck of the woods. Other than Boxing Day, good luck for the rest of the season!
Luke Williams: “We will train on Christmas Day, so it will be presents in the morning and then they can come in with all their new clothes on for training. “We need to make sure we provide entertainment for families at Christmas who love their football club. We are the entertainment, and that’s a privilege. “We will fit in family time, but we also have to remember it’s our responsibility to provide Christmas cheer for all Swans.” Marti Cifuentes: “If one month ago I was not looking at the table much, why should I now? The reality is that it can go up and it can go down. That’s why I’m always very focused on the performances. “I understand that people will be happy. I am very happy for the owners because they have been supportive in the last days and I appreciate that. The victory against Preston is for them, but the reality is we need to keep working. “There are 24 games still to play and it’s going to be tough, there will be up and downs, but we keep working in a humble way and keep trying to improve.”
Ben Toner will be the man in the middle for the Boxing Day clash with Queens Park Rangers at the Swansea.com Stadium. It will be just the third time the man from Lancashire has refereed a Swans fixture, having previously had the whistle for a goalless draw at Huddersfield Town in November 2022 and last month’s victory over Derby County at Pride Park. At the time of writing he has taken charge of 18 games in all competitions, handing out 97 yellow cards and three red cards. He will be assisted by Andrew Fox and Hristo Karaivanov, while James Durkin will be the fourth official.
Weighing up everything, a draw sounds likely but the players (and Luke) owe the fans big time for the last couple of inept performances. We know they can play better...
Our defence has been superb recently but both CBs injured. One back from injury for his first start after a long absence and one we just hope the ball won’t go near today.
