QPR, Championship play-offs claim issued after Stoke City win - "We'll be right up there" | OneFootball

FLW's QPR fan pundit has been discussing the club's recent upturn in form, and looks ahead to a favourable run of fixtures.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

QPR made it three wins on the bounce with a 1-0 win over Stoke City at the weekend, as the Julien Stephan era at Loftus Road finally appears to have kicked into gear.

The Hoops had been without a win in all competitions in the 25/26 season prior to their 3-1 win over Charlton Atheltic at the end of August, with defeats to Coventry City and Watford following an opening day draw at home to Preston North End.

However, following that first three points of the campaign against the Addicks, Stephan's side have since claimed another two wins from their clashes with Wrexham and Stoke, and are now level on 10 points with sixth-placed Coventry after six games.

"Turned a corner" - QPR sent confident play-off claim after Stoke City triumph

We asked our QPR fan pundit, Louis Moir: 'It's now three wins on the bounce for QPR. Do you feel like a corner has been turned for Stephan's side, and with a favourable run of games upcoming, should the R's be looking to firmly be inside the top-six come a few weeks' time?'

Moir said: "I think the whole group of players that we've got - management, staff, everyone connected - we've all turned a corner massively since that debacle of a performance at Coventry (lost 7-1).

"Since then, the only way has been up for us. Obviously winning three in a row has been massive, and puts us right up in top-six contention.

"As fans, it's hard to not get carried away, especially because we've been quite bad and inconsistent for a few years, but it's really important to just stay level-headed, as boring as that sounds.

"We've got to just keep going, and keep growing as a team. Obviously, I think it's clear as day that this squad and all the new signings are starting to gel, and the manager is getting his tactics spot on.

"Not just the players starting, but his subs are getting better, and you can see how they're affecting games big time."

Stephan hasn't been afraid to make some big team selection calls either, with the likes of underperforming tio Rayan Kolli, Karamoko Dembele and Sam Field having been dropped, with the likes of Harvey Vale, Koki Saito and Nicolas Madsen growing into larger roles and delivering the goods.

Indeed, Rhys Norrington-Davies has also come into the starting XI at left-back over the last two games and has been solid, whilst summer signing Rumarn Burrell has also began to find goal-contribution form in recent outings after a slow start to his QPR career.

QPR sent complacency warning as Julien Stephan's side urged to avoid "typical stinking performance"

Winning games is not a straightforward task in the Championship, and so embracing and protecting a winning feeling when it arrives is so important, such is the ease and haste of which the doom and gloom of defeats can return.

When looking at QPR's upcoming run of fixtures, the paper will certainly paint a picture of favourable matchups and golden opportunities to put more points on the board for QPR.

Stephan will take his side to Sheffield Wednesday this weekend, before hosting Oxford United on 1 October, with Bristol City, Millwall, Swansea City and Derby County respectively all to follow.

Naturally then, Hoops fans will certainly be looking at a number of those games - particularly the first two - as huge chances to taste further victories, but when asked about these clashes, Moir was keen to stress the importance of staying level-headed and professional.

"With the fixtures coming up, obviously on paper you're looking at it and thinking, 'you fancy our chances to get some more points on the board', but obviously it would be typical QPR to go and put in a stinking performance at home to Oxford United, or a game like that," our QPR fan pundit continued.

"I think it's important to just enjoy this, and then carry on as we are, and just hope that we can continue rising. If it went right with the fixtures we've got, then we'd be in the play-offs.

"Obviously it's really early days, but with the fixtures coming up, you'd really hope that we would be still where we are, or if not in the top-six comfortably.

"I've got full belief in this squad. Before the season started I had this feeling that if it all clicked, we'd do well. It's early days, but the signs are really, really good, exciting and positive.

"So fingers crossed it can continue, and we can pick up more points in the next few weeks, because it's going to put us up there, and then you're going to have fans of other clubs noticing thinking 'we're not here to mess about, we're a serious side'.