QPR were cut from 11/2 to 7/2 to be relegated after their thrashing at the hands of Swansea at the weekend and all the optimistic noises coming out of Loftus Road seem, for the moment, misguided.
The R’s bounced back from an opening-day hiding at the hands of Bolton last year, going on to win at Everton the following week, and Mark Hughes will be looking for a similar reaction.
As luck (?) would have it they travel to Norwich on Saturday to meet a Canaries side who were also on the receiving end of a 5-0 defeat on the opening day.
It is the home side who are 11/8 favourites at BetVictor with the Hoops 11/5 and the draw at 12/5.
City, by the way, are 6/5 for the drop and new boss Chris Hughton has inherited a pretty ordinary looking squad.
The Norwich faithful are likely to be tetchy to say the least on Saturday and I think 11/5 is a terrific price for a Rangers team who did show some attacking promise before their defensive frailties took over.
Michael Dawson would be an excellent signing by the club, but why wasn’t this problem in central defence addressed before the start of the campaign?
With Manchester City, Chelsea and Spurs the next three fixtures after Saturday, the R’s need and should get a confidence booster ahead of a return to the Etihad Stadium – the scene of that game earlier in the year.
Djibril Cisse is 2/1 favourite to be Rangers’ top league goalscorer with Bobby Zamora 3s and Andrew Johnson and Jamie Mackie 7s and 14/1 bar.
Rangers are now 11/4 to finish in the top 10 (1/4 lower half) and 13/8 to finish higher than Fulham.
Chelsea were in parts irresistible against a poor Reading side on Wednesday and will surely have too much for Newcastle on Saturday unless Pappis Cisse repeats his extraordinary display from back in the Spring.
Chelsea are 1/2 to maintain their 100% record with Newcastle 6s and the draw at 17/5.
Fernando Torres is 6s from 9s (too short) to be the top Premier League goalscorer after his goal at the Bridge midweek.
The Spanish international is 4/1 to score Saturday evening’s opener with Frank Lampard 6/1 having scored in both of the first two games.
Chelsea are 9/2 for the title but surely they need a new goalkeeper if they are to be realistic contenders?
Fulham are likely to find things a tad more difficult at Old Trafford than they did at Craven Cottage last weekend against a United side wounded by their opening defeat at Everton.
Fulham are 10/1 to cause a shock with the hosts 3/10 and the draw at 9/2. Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie are 7/2 to score the opener with Mladen Petric 11/1.
Martin Jol’s side are 11/8 to finish in the top 10 with Petric now 1/2 to be the leading Fulham’s top league scorer with Hugo Rodallega 5s, Bryan Ruiz and Damien Duff 12s and 14s bar.
We bet 66/1 that all three local sides collect three points this weekend. For all your weekend odds check out betvictor.com
Be lucky.
Charlie
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This post was last modified on 24/08/2012