Queens Park Rangers v Middlesbrough: promotion chase meets mid-table consolidation | OneFootball

Queens Park Rangers host Middlesbrough in the Championship on Sunday, 8 March 2026 at Loftus Road, with the visitors protecting an automatic promotion place and the hosts looking to steady their season.

Queens Park Rangers are 16th on 47 points, while Middlesbrough sit second with 66. The visitors won the reverse fixture 3-1 in December.

Recent form points both ways. Queens Park Rangers have lost three of their last four league games, including a 5-0 defeat at Southampton and a 2-0 home loss to Sheffield United, though they did win 3-1 at Hull. Boro are unbeaten in three after a 3-1 victory at Birmingham, following draws with Leicester City and Oxford United.

Queens Park Rangers list Illias Chair, Nicolas Madsen, Rumarn Burrell, Karamoko Dembele, Kwame Poku, Ziyad Larkeche and Justin Obikwu as injured. Boro are without Darragh Lenihan, Alfie Jones, Alex Bangura and Samuel Silvera. Morgan Whittaker leads the visitors' league scoring with 11, while Queens Park Rangers' top scorer Burrell has 10 but is sidelined.

On season trends, Boro average 58% possession with 84.38% pass accuracy, scoring 54 and conceding 35 with 10 clean sheets. Queens Park Rangers have 46 goals and 54 conceded, plus nine clean sheets. The hosts also deliver plenty from wide areas, with 441 open play crosses at 19.05% accuracy, while Boro could look to work chances inside the box, where 46 of their goals have come.

A home win would take Queens Park Rangers to 50 points and could nudge them towards the top half. Victory would move Boro to 69 points and further strengthen their grip on the automatic promotion places.