Sheffield United vs Queens Park Rangers – Preview | OneFootball

Sheffield United face off against Queens Park Rangers at Bramall Lane on Saturday afternoon in the final game before the international break.

United travelled to top of the league Coventry City on Tuesday night and a shock was well and truly on the cards when Sam McCallum tapped home from close range in the first half against his former club. Unfortunately, Michael Cooper was forced off at half-time and was replaced by Adam Davies. Davies was instantly picking the ball out of his net, and he didn’t cover himself in glory for the second before the Sky Blues killed the game off in the dying moments.

Queens Park Rangers, much like United, head into this game having lost their last three games. Their 2-1 defeat in midweek came at home against manager-less Southampton. The Hoops have been better away from home this season though, they are currently seventh in away form.

Transfer Business

QPR signed some excellent attacking players in the summer, but unfortunately they’ve struggled to have their strongest XI out on the pitch at the same time. Kwame Poku, the standout inverted right-winger who scored 12 times in League One last season, has barely featured for the Hoops due to injury.

Attacking midfielder Karamoko Dembele joined permanently from Stade Brest after impressing on his loan spell last term. But he’s struggled for consistency so far.

Richard Kone scored 21 times in 50 games in all competitions for Wycombe Wanderers last season, and that’s why QPR splashed the cash to get him in the summer. He’s already found the net four times in just ten appearances.

Team News

Ben Godfrey, Tahith Chong and Oliver Arblaster will all be unavailable on Saturday. Though, there is a minimal chance of Gustavo Hamer being on the bench at the weekend. The huge one of course is Michael Cooper who was forced off at half-time with a back and neck injury in midweek.

QPR manager Julien Stephan confirmed in midweek that former Peterborough United star Kwame Poku picked up a minor injury after recovering from his hamstring injury. Poku was unable to feature against Southampton, and his status is in question for Saturday’s trip to S2.

Sheffield United’s Impact Player For This Game

PRESTON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 24: Andre Brooks of Sheffield United scores his team’s first goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Preston North End and Sheffield United at Deepdale Stadium on October 24, 2025 in Preston, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Sheffield United need to start offering a genuine and consistent threat in attack. So far, the only player that is doing such a thing is Callum O’Hare, and the Blades simply cannot climb up the table if it’s just him alone committing defenders and creating things.

For this game in particular, I’m looking at Andre Brooks and his athleticism to cause Jimmy Dune some issues (if he does indeed feature down the left wing). Brooks has the clear pace and agility advantage in this one. Dunne, one of the players that was said to have been signing for the Blades if Chris Wilder would’ve stayed, has been heavily criticised this season for his lack of athleticism and desire.

Based on statistics over the last 365 days, compared to Championship attacking midfielders and wingers, Brooks ranks in the 94th percentile for take-on attempts per 90. Plus, he ranks in the 89th percentile for successful take-ons per 90. Having a genuine one-vs-one threat down the left should help unlock space for others in-field as QPR will likely try to double up on him.

Brooks also provides United with a way to get the ball in the box; he ranks in the 85th percentile for crosses into the box.

Queens Park Rangers’ Impact Player For This Game

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 27: Richard Kone of Queens Park Rangers looks on during the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers at Hillsborough on September 27, 2025 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Tony King/Getty Images)

Considering how poorly Mark McGuinness and Ben Mee have dealt with strikers in recent weeks: Lewis Dobbin and Carlton Morris, and even Haji Wright (who missed two great chances on Tuesday evening), Richard Kone must be fancying this.

Kone, who was sought after in the summer after his excellent campaign in League One for Wycombe Wanderers, scoring 18 goals in 43 games, made the switch to QPR and already has four goals to his name. Kone has the pace and power to torture centre-backs at any level; it’s all about what he does when he gets into good positions, can he show a bit of finesse and composure to lay the ball off or shoot. So far he’s shown exactly that.

Kone ranks in the 99th percentile for aerial duels won per 90. Typically if you have a 6ft4 centre-back you wouldn’t be worried about such a thing, but McGuinness has looked all over the place ever since signing for United.

Kone can pin the United defenders, hold the ball up and lay it off, or he can spin in behind them at any second and race away on goal, which by the way could be operated by Adam Davies if Michael Cooper isn’t fit enough to go.

My Prediction

Sheffield United may have improved in their offensive output (17.8 non-penalty expected goals, 11th) since Wilder has taken over. But, they are still shocking defensively (18.4 non-penalty expected goals given up,17th). We can’t really make the excuse of it being the lack of quality in the squad either because this is a worrying trend for the Blades ever since the January transfer window, thus indicating how important the presence of Oliver Arblaster and Harry Souttar was.

Queens Park Rangers rank 15th for non-penalty expected goals with 16.4, and defensively they are 10th in the league with 16.5 non-penalty expected goals given up.

Similar to Coventry in midweek, QPR rank very highly in high turnovers ranking fourth in the league with 99 (the Blades are second with 110, though the majority of these were forced under Ruben Selles).

QPR have the quickest direct speed of attack out of anybody else in the league at 2.16. Coventry are second with 2.05, and we saw just how dangerous they were against United.

With all things considered, I think this will be a tough ask for United to get anything from if Adam Davies is playing. If Cooper does start, my prediction is a 2-1 win for Sheffield United.

Stats taken from FBref and Opta.