QPR handed fresh injury blow as Alex Neil makes bold Millwall transfer prediction

A busy weekend of Championship action saw London sides QPR and Millwall both pick up points as they hosted opponents at home.

QPR bounced back from defeat to Stoke City in midweek with a draw against relegation-threatened Cardiff City. Meanwhile, the Lions beat Portsmouth 2-1 thanks to a late Mihailo Ivanovic goal in another dramatic fixture for Alex Neil’s side.

As the dust settles from the latest round of action with just a handful of fixtures left in the campaign, LondonWorld has the latest from QPR and Millwall.

QPR handed fresh injury blow

QPR are struggling on in the Championship without a consistent striker and the R’s have been hit with yet another injury blow in the 0-0 draw with Cardiff City at the weekend.

Michael Frey, Zan Celar and Rayan Kolli were all absent from the matchday squad at Loftus Road at the weekend but Marti Cifuentes did have 21-year-old Alfie Lloyd available for the second week running. The player had missed recent clashes against Middlesbrough and Leeds United through injury and picked up a fresh concern against Cardiff City.

Lloyd had to be taken off after 54 minutes and speaking after the match Cifuentes said: “That’s the reason Alfie didn’t start against Stoke – not because I didn’t want him to, but because he was coming [back] from a groin injury that has been there for a while.

“Today he gave us this energy that he’s got, his movement and his capacity to stretch in behind. Unfortunately he felt his groin once again. The doctor and the medical team will test him, but he was not very optimistic about the next game.”

Alex Neil makes Millwall transfer prediction

Millwall head coach Alex Neil is predicting transfer rumours to come swirling around striker Mihailo Ivanovic as the Serbian continues an impressive first season in the Championship. The 20-year-old became the Lions’ club record signing when arriving at The Den from Vojvodina for £2.8 million.

Ivanovic has been eased into the second tier by Neil Harris and Neil but now has eight league goals after a brace in the 2-1 win over Portsmouth on Saturday afternoon. The Gazette & Herald report that those finishes have single handedly earned the club 17 points.

Speaking about the star after beating Pompey, Neil admitted that such form combined with the player’s young age could lead to suitors coming knock at Millwall’s door at the end of the season. He said: “Any 20-year-old that leads the line in the Championship and can get nearly [10 goals], and he’ll get double figures before the end of the season. If you do that, that’s an unbelievable season and it won’t be surprising me if people start talking about him.

“I’ve already seen something the other day talking about the top 10 young talents in Europe – he’s one of them. He’s 20 years of age, there are very few strikers at that age that will lead the line at this level and also score goals, so he deserves all the plaudits he gets.

“It was a particularly tight game today and I think physicality was the order of the day, hence the reason why I wasn’t making changes earlier because the players I was bringing on were all smaller. I didn’t want to take that risk, but I thought when they did come on, they impacted the game really well.”