QPR were denied victory by Tammy Abraham’s equaliser but showed their play-off credentials in another impressive performance.
Abraham’s second goal of the game earned a point for Aston Villa after Luke Freeman had equalised for Rangers before Ebere Eze put them ahead.
Freeman scored a superb goal to haul the visitors level four minutes before half-time.
He collected Nahki Wells’ lay-off and hammered home from 25 yards out – his fourth goal of the season
Eze’s goal 12 minutes into the second half put Rangers within sight of a win which would have left them seventh in the Championship table.
Pawel Wszolek pulled the ball back from the right and Eze, having blasted over in the first half after being similarly set up by the Pole, this time fired home.
But Villa hit back when Anwar El Ghazi crossed and Abraham got in front of Toni Leistner to score.
Abraham had put the home side ahead on 21 minutes, when Leistner was caught out by John McGinn’s ball over the top and the on-loan Chelsea striker headed past Joe Lumley.
The opener came less than a minute after McGinn hit the bar with a left-footed strike from near the edge of the penalty area.
And before that, keeper Lumley denied Abraham, who had pounced on a slip by Leistner.
Having been under pressure for most of the first half, Rangers hit back in spectacular fashion with Freeman’s thunderbolt.
Eze’s goal came shortly after Lumley required several minutes of treatment, having received a boot in the face from Jonathan Kodjia, who was inexplicably only shown a yellow card.
Abraham’s leveller meant Rangers dropped to ninth in the table. But they are unbeaten in six matches and are just four points away from the play-off places.
QPR: Lumley; Furlong, Leistner, Lynch, Bidwell; Wszolek (Osayi-Samuel 77), Scowen, Cousins, Freeman; Eze (Hall 90); Wells (Smith 71).
Subs not used: Ingram, Manning, Chair, Oteh.
This post was last modified on 02/01/2019