West Ham’s attack meets a QPR side without its strikers
On Friday, 9 October 2026, West Ham United take on Queens Park Rangers at the London Stadium, with kick-off at 21:00 CEST (20:00 BST). Nuno Espírito Santo’s side are second in the Championship, unbeaten in six league games and on 22 goals from eight matches, while Julien Stephan’s QPR sit sixth after three straight draws. The visitors arrive with Rumarn Burrell injured, Dennis Cirkin suspended and question marks over Richard Kone and Glen Kamara. Ruebyn Ricardo takes charge.
West Ham have scored 14 goals in four home league games and conceded four.
Predicted lineups: West Ham vs QPR
Nuno has a near-full squad. Mohamadou Kanté serves a suspension after his red card at Millwall, while Konstantinos Mavropanos and Manor Solomon are expected to be available despite knocks on international duty. Tomáš Souček is back in contention after coming through a behind-closed-doors friendly. QPR’s front line is the problem: Burrell is out for a couple of weeks, Kone only resumed collective training this week after a bad tackle against Bolton, and Kamara’s availability depends on talks with the Finnish FA. With Cirkin banned and Boy Kemper’s fitness unclear, Stephan is also short at left-back.
West Ham Team News & Preview
The home numbers are the strongest part of West Ham’s case. In four league games at the London Stadium they have produced 2.91 xG per match and allowed 0.53, and even the 2-1 defeat to Charlton in August came with 25 shots to seven and 2.84 xG to 0.62. Since then they have beaten Wolves 4-2, Derby 3-0 and Wrexham 6-0, with Derby failing to register a shot on target.
The last game before the break was less convincing. Millwall led 2-0 at half-time and Nuno’s changes rescued a 2-2 draw, but Kanté, who had scored against Derby, Wrexham and Millwall, was sent off late on. Jarrod Bowen is the key figure with four goals and three assists and the best FotMob rating in the squad (7.91), Manor Solomon has four goal involvements from the left, and centre-back Mavropanos has chipped in with four goals, a useful set-piece outlet against a QPR side light at full-back.
What works for or against West Ham
- Four home league games: 14 goals scored, four conceded, and 2.91 xG per match.
- Bowen, Solomon and Mavropanos have 15 goal involvements between them.
- Only two clean sheets all season, and Millwall led them 2-0 at half-time before the break.
- Kanté, on target against Derby, Wrexham and Millwall, is suspended.
QPR Team News & Preview
QPR have been hard to beat. They have lost only once in eight league games, conceded seven goals and taken eight points from four away trips, winning 3-1 at Portsmouth and 2-1 at Blackburn before drawing at Charlton and West Brom. But the draws hide a team that is struggling to turn possession into goals: they are winless in four, and Stephan’s side needed ten-man resilience to come back from 2-0 down against Preston, where Cirkin was sent off after 15 minutes.
Losing Burrell matters more than his two goals suggest. He shares the team lead for goal involvements, and with Kone short of sessions the likely pairing is Paul Smyth and Leon Jayden Scarlett. Ilias Chair, who scored twice at Portsmouth, is also listed as doubtful. Stephan himself said the outcome of this stretch of away games depends on which players are available, and right now the answer is not many of his first-choice attackers.
What works for or against QPR
- Unbeaten away from home, with only one league defeat all season.
- Burrell is out, Kone has only just returned to training and Chair is a doubt.
- Winless in four league games, scoring more than once in only one of them.
- Cirkin is suspended and Kemper's fitness is unclear, leaving QPR short at left-back against Bowen.
West Ham vs QPR Odds
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West Ham Form, Stats & Data
West Ham’s 2.25 xG per game is backed up by actual output: 22 goals in eight matches, so this is not a side relying on a couple of freak results. The defensive side is weaker, 1.38 goals conceded per game and only two clean sheets, but most of that damage has come away from home, at Burnley, Millwall and Bolton. At the London Stadium the profile is far more one-sided, and Bowen’s form on the right is the main reason why.
QPR Form, Stats & Data
QPR’s numbers explain both their table position and the doubts around this trip. Conceding 0.88 goals per game is genuinely good, but 1.25 goals from 1.66 xG shows how often chances have gone begging, and that was with Burrell and Kone available. Both of QPR’s top goal contributors, Burrell and Chair, are missing or doubtful, which makes it harder to see where the goals come from against a West Ham side that gives up very little at home.
West Ham vs QPR: Prediction & Betting Tip
I think the personnel news tips this clearly towards the hosts. West Ham have been dominant at home in underlying terms, creating close to three expected goals a game, and they face a QPR side missing its leading striker, a suspended left-back and possibly Kamara in midfield. QPR’s attack was already blunt before the break, and Chair being a doubt removes their most dangerous creator.
The best argument the other way is QPR’s resilience: they have lost only once all season, are unbeaten on the road and concede fewer than a goal a game. West Ham also showed at Millwall that they can start slowly. That is why I am not going for a handicap, but at 1.46 I am happy to back a West Ham win given how much of QPR’s attacking threat is missing.
The bet: West Ham to win at 1.46 with Winz. Score prediction: 2-0.