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Tonight, on Tuesday 13th, Villa take on QPR looking to put the pressure on Cardiff in second.
To get the view from the away end, we’ve had help from R’s fan Matt Winton (@Mattwinton1).
Matt Winton is a long suffering QPR fan, having attended R’s games regularly since 1981. His family enjoyed very close ties to the club during the 2000’s, when they helped fund the signings of several players when the club was in administration.
How would you rate your season so far out of 10 and why?
Probably a 5. This season was always going to be a struggle with the restrictions placed on the current management by our self-inflicted and ongoing problems with FFP.
We’ve been a very long-term mess on and off the field, having a new manager and ten new players almost every transfer window, which has left us with the largest squad in the league.
This squad has been cobbled together by different managers, adopting different systems, which has resulted in a group that isn’t really working for Ian Holloway and his inflexible tactics.
Our away form has been awful all season and this has really stopped the club getting out of the bottom half since September, where we’ve been 16th pretty much ever since and that’s where we will probably end up.
Which QPR players should Villa be wary of?
Jack Robinson’s long throws and the trio of Massimo Luongo, Josh Scowen and Luke Freeman are excellent on their day. Our keeper Alex Smithies has the ability to play at the highest level and we have two young forwards on the fringe of the team, Paul Smyth and Eberechi Eze and they look exciting prospects. Apart from that not much else to worry about.
Would you consider the January transfer window a success for the R’s?
Yes, because it was the first in living memory that we haven’t signed a player. That is a sign of progress at QPR, especially considering how we have operated in the transfer market since Tony Fernandes bought the club.
If you could, which past QPR player would you bring into the starting XI?
It would have to be Charlie Austin. He is a natural predator in the box and a guaranteed 20 goals a season. If we had him in this team, we would be amongst the play offs without doubt, that is how much he influenced the success of our team and how important a striker of his calibre is in the championship.
If you were Ian Holloway and had to sign one Aston Villa player for QPR, who would it be?
John Terry. The relationship that Ollie is having with our fans this season, signing Terry would be the ultimate insult.
QPR have conceded the fourth most goals in the Championship this season, why do think this is?
We had terrible defensive injuries for the first half of the season, despite that our defenders have consistently shipped a soft goal in almost every game. We’ve only managed a handful of clean sheets all season as well and this despite having a very good keeper and 3 quite dominant centre halves.
If you were stuck on a desert island with one other R’s player, who would it be?
I’d probably take Conor Washington, for no other reason other than getting him as far as possible away from the first team.
Score prediction for Tuesday?
2-1 Villa, with a last gasp heartbreaking winner from Villa after valiant effort from the R’s.
Words by Harry Trend (@HazaTrand) // Follow us on Twitter (@claretandview)
