AFC Bournemouth begin their FA Cup campaign with a third round trip to QPR on Saturday. Having lost at Spurs last weekend, the Cherries will consider this the perfect chance to make a swift return to winning ways and with QPR looking out of sorts at the moment, they should claim the upper hand here.
Like the rest of the teams from the Championship and Premier League, QPR will be making their first FA Cup appearance in the third round having drawn a bye from the previous rounds. They have been far from their best lately and are winless in their last six matches, suffering four defeats in that run.
QPR head into Saturday’s clash off the back of a 2-1 home defeat to Cardiff City in a New Year’s Day Championship fixture. They fell behind early in the encounter but struck back through Paul Smyth before conceding the winner midway through the second half.
That result continues a poor home record for QPR, who have picked up just two wins at Loftus Road across all competitions this season. They are winless in their last three matches in front of their fans, failing to score in two fixtures in that run.
Bournemouth are coming off a 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in a Premier League fixture last weekend. The Cherries fell three goals down and went on to miss several chances before Alex Scott struck a consolation six minutes from time.
While Bournemouth were far from their best last time out, manager Andoni Iraola will be keen to put things into perspective as they have generally been in good form lately. That was their first defeat in eight matches, claiming six wins in that run.
Bournemouth have also impressed on their recent travels, claiming four straight wins prior to that defeat at Tottenham. Among their results in that run is a 3-0 victory at Manchester United while they also picked up a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace.
How the bookies view it
The bookies have installed Bournemouth as overwhelming favourites with a win priced at 3/5 by BetVictor. QPR are considered outsiders at home at 9/2 with Unibet while a draw is set at odds of 16/5 by Unibet.
Head to head
Bournemouth have a 5-4 advantage with two draws from 11 previous matches against QPR. The Cherries have also won the last two meetings and claimed a 1-0 victory in their last trip to Loftus Road in a Championship fixture back in 2021.
Players to watch
Dominic Solanke was one of the profligate culprits in the defeat to Spurs and will be keen to make amends on Saturday. The striker has eight goals in his last eight matches and is priced at 11/8 by bet365 to get on the score sheet.
Having shutout the Manchester United and Crystal Palace attacks in recent weeks, Bournemouth will be targeting a similar outcome on Saturday. Illia Zabarnyi and Marcos Senesi have impressed at the back this season and can lead the Cherries to another clean sheet at 11/8 with bet365.
Anything else catch the eye?
Bournemouth earned a win to nil on their last visit to Loftus Road and a repeat is priced at 2/1 by BetVictor. Given the quality in their attack, they are likely to score multiple goals and could be backed in the -1 handicap at 17/10 with Paddy Power.
The Cherries are likely to be dominant on Saturday and could be tipped to score in both halves at 7/5 with Paddy Power.
This FA Cup match between QPR and AFC Bournemouth will be played on Jan 6, 2024 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best QPR vs AFC Bournemouth prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
