Why Southampton will fear the possible return of this QPR maverick at St Mary's

Queens Park Rangers will be very aware of the quality of Southampton's attacking arsenal when travelling to St. Mary's on Saturday.

Indeed, last season, when the two Championship teams met on the South Coast, QPR lost 5-0 to Tonda Eckert's hosts, with Finn Azaz, Kuryu Matsuki, Leo Scienza and James Bree all getting on the scoresheet.

Eckert's men didn't even need a goal from Cyle Larin during this past league meeting to wipe the floor with the West Londoners, which might stand them in good stead to collect another win on Halloween, with the Canadian's fitness slightly touch-and-go.

The promotion chasers will need to be aware of the potency of QPR's attacking personnel, too, if they want to secure another Championship victory, with Richard Kone entering into the match at St. Mary's off the back of a sensational 15 minute hat-trick versus Swansea City.

Alongside Kone leading the line, Julien Stephan could also have this entertaining EFL performer back in his starting XI for the trip to St. Mary's, with the exciting midfielder in question potentially shaking off a troubling injury problem to start.

The QPR maverick who could return

Stephan has had a horrible injury list to contend with over the past couple of matches.

It's guaranteed that Tariq Lamptey, Nicolas Madsen, and Rumarn Burrell won't be available for the showdown at St. Mary's, with the Frenchman revealing earlier in the month that the trio will be out until after the forthcoming international break.

While they won't feature, the ex-Rennes boss was cautiously optimistic regarding the return of Ilias Chair to the starting XI.

Noting that he felt "quite positive" when discussing Chair's injury status in his pre-match Saints press conference, this will be a huge boost to a QPR side who already looked dangerous in attack last time out against the Swans, with no Chair present.

Eckert and Co. will fear the dazzling Moroccan being present for the clash at the weekend, as he is a sublime watch when performing at the peak of his powers.

Southampton will fear his return

Chair's name is instantly recognisable to fans of the Championship.

The eye-catching 28-year-old has made 265 appearances at the challenging level across his QPR-centric career to date, collecting 39 goals and 42 assists along the way.

He has suffered with a lot of injury issues in recent years, with only 15 appearances coming his way in the second tier last season, and only five outings have been handed to him this season.

But, when he is fit, he is such a tricky attacking force to contain, with one goal and two assists coming his way this campaign, from his limited five appearances.

Regularly picking up double figures in terms of combined goals and assists in the Championship when fit and firing, as he collected 15 goal contributions from 44 league games during the 2023/24 season, it's no great shock to see that his ex-Loftus Road boss Marti Cifuentes once named him as "one of the best players in the league" when he is free of the treatment room.

While Eckert will fear Chair's potential inclusion, he will also back his own set of exhilarating attackers to do the job to steer the Saints to a win, with both Leo Scienza and Finn Azaz capable of moments of immense magic.

That's before you throw in the possible return of Larin from injury, too, with the match shaping up to be a fascinating watch from a neutral point of view, as two attack-minded promotion hopefuls butt heads.

History does suggest that the South Coast hosts should win, even with Chair racing back to be fit, with QPR only winning two of their previous ten meetings with Eckert's men.

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