Match Preview: Sheffield United v Queens Park Rangers

Last updated : 03 January 2010 By @blades_mad1889

sheffield united vs. queens park rangers
Last season the Blades were knocked out of the Cup by Premier League outfit Hull City in a round five replay at the KC Stadium (2-1) following a 1-1 draw at the Lane. United had initially knocked out Leyton Orient (4-1) and Charlton Athletic (2-1) in previous rounds.

United have lifted the cup on four occasions; 1899 (4-1 vs. Derby County), 1902 (2-1 replay vs. Southampton), 1915 (3-0 vs. Chelsea) and also in 1925 (1-0 vs. Cardiff City) and beaten finalists twice in 1901 (3-1 replay vs. Tottenham Hotspur) and 1936 (1-0 vs. Arsenal).

The two teams were in action two weeks ago on 19th December which ended 1-1; it was always going to be an uneasy encounter at Loftus Road with the Hoops blowing hot and cold recently as well as appointing a new manager in the form of Paul Hart. And his new leadership obviously rubbed off on the shoulders of the QPR faithful as Mikele Leigertwood opened the scoring within 88 seconds.

A half hearted Clearance fell to the former Blades midfielder on the edge of the box and his low drive took a slight deflection as it spun past Mark Bunn and into the net; ten games ago that would have been game set and match for a United team with little faith but they have a new assurgency and made it seven games unbeaten when Richard Cresswell (8) tucked home Toni Kallio's low cross to put the Blades into a respectable 7th league position.

The Blades come into this fixture on back of an home fixture with Preston North End last Monday which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Blades; it was a defeat for the Lancashire club which subsequently lost Alan Irvine's job - but it was a free-kick from Jamie Ward (85 minutes) that evaded everyone and flew into the net.

Duo; Darius Henderson (back) and Lee Williamson (hamstring) are both expected to miss this FA Cup tie with Queens Park Rangers whilst Ched Evans (ear infection) and Andy Taylor (virus) may return.

Blades boss Kevin Blackwell may have somewhat of a selection problem ahead of this domestic cup encounter; the club have a number of players on loan and their parent club may not allow them play at the early stages of this competition. The only player affected by this is keeper Mark Bunn (Blackburn Rovers) as Kyle Walker (Tottenham Hotspur) is on a season's long loan and Richard Cresswell (Stoke City) is expected to have completed a full transfer ahead of this fixture.

However United have brought in centre-half Marcel Seip on loan for the remainder of the season from fellow Coca-Cola Championship rivals Plymouth Argyle and will be allowed to feature in this seasons domestic cup competition.

Possible Blades Line-Up: Ian Bennett, Derek Geary, Chris

Morgan, Jonathan Fortune, Jordan Stewart, Jamie Ward, Nick Montgomery, James Harper, Stephen Quinn, Richard Cresswell, Ched Evans.

Queens Park Rangers was last season defeated in the third round of the cup at Burnley, like United it was in a replay (lost 2-1) away from home after a 0-0 draw at Loftus Road.

The Londoners have never won the FA Cup, but were beaten finalists in 1982 when they lost in a replay to Tottenham Hotspur in front of 90,000 - a Glenn Hoddle penalty (6 minutes) early on in the game put pay to any cup aspirations. Tony Currie captained the Hoops side whilst Simon Stainrod also featured for the finalists - both of whom represented Sheffield United during their playing careers.

The Loftus Road club will be without duo Tom Williams (Peterborough United) and Ben Watson (Wigan Athletic) after the pair's loan period ended. Meanwhile Gareth Ainsworth (calf), Gavin Mahon, Lee Cook and Martin Rowlands (all knee) are sidelined with Angelo Balanta (groin) is ready to return to the squad.

Rangers are likely to field former Sheffield United midfielder Mikele Leigertwood against his former club; he was signed by Neil Warnock from Crystal Palace in a £600,000 transfer in July 2006 but his lack of Premiership experience troubled his ability and was eventually sold in August 2007 for £900,000 to tomorrow's opponents. He left the club having made 19 (+4) appearances.

Possible Hoops Line-Up: Radek Cerny, Peter Ramage, Damion Stewart, Kasper Gorkss, Matthew Connolly, Mikele Leigertwood, Wayne Roultedge, Akos Buzsaky, Angelo Balanta, Adel Taarabt, Jay Simpson.

Blades-Mad Prediction: Sheffield United 2-1 Queens Park Rangers


:: Match Officials ::

Referee: A. Hall (W.Midlands)