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...
Following Michael Beale's appointment as QPR manager this summer, the manager has been trying to create a squad of his own that can compete towards the play-offs.
However, Rangers haven't got off to a great start this season having lost against Blackburn in the league and on penalties against Charlton to go out in the EFL Cup.
That being said, last weekend QPR were able to beat Middlesbrough in a high scoring 3-2 win which is a good result for them.
The problem for Beale's side now is that Chris Willock and Luke Amos, who were both in the squad for the Boro game, are now injured again and therefore look unavailable for selection this weekend.
This weekend QPR make a trip to the Stadium of Light to face face a Sunderland side who are yet to lose in the league.
Therefore, we asked FLW's QPR fan pundit Louis Moir for his score prediction this weekend: "After beating Middlesbrough in our first home match of the new season, which was an absolute cracker of a game, I think unfortunately we're going to be in for a real battle up at Sunderland away on Saturday.
"I just feel that they've obviously started the season well coming up from League One, picking up four points from their first two games and we've just come off the back of a League Cup first round defeat losing on penalties at Charlton and with yet more injuries, that is a real concern again.
"We had Luke Amos and Chris Willock back for our first home game against Middlesbrough and they obviously started and played really well and Chris Willock scored a beautiful goal after being injured for five months.
"They're both big players for us and we hear that after the Charlton cup game that they're injured again and it looks like they're going to be missing, hopefully it's just Sunderland which would be one game and it's just worrying they've come back and then straight away after one game they're injured again.
"So thats going to be a real hit to the squad losing those two again and then obviously out of the four signings we've signed, three of them are now injured so it's concerning.
"Obviously with pretty much a fully fit squad, the squad depth isn't great anyway and with all the injuries it means the likes of Niko Hamalainen will have to step in at left-back and I've just got no faith in players like that at this level.
"So I think it's going to be a real battle up there in front of a very good crowd and unfortunately I just can't see us coming away with anything, I'll be very surprised if we do.
"So therefore my prediction for Saturday is 2-1 Sunderland."
The Verdict:
QPR's result against Middlesbrough last week shows the quality that there is in Michael Beale's side this season and it was a great result for his team.
However, with key players Willock and Amos injured again and missing out as well as a number of others, it does look worrying for Rangers especially with a lack of squad depth like Louis pointed out.
Sunderland have started the season well and although they lost in the cup mid-week, in front of a home crowd you would expect them to feel good about this game.
Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising to see QPR come away from the Stadium of Light with nothing this weekend.