Aston Villa vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Villa ParkAttendance37,760.
Watch live on Sky Sports red button or the mobile app on New Year's Day from 2.55pm.
Monday 31 December 2018 11:52, UK
Aston Villa could recall Tommy Elphick after he returned from his loan spell at Hull.
The defender's spell was cut short to bolster the backline and he is available to face QPR.
Croatia goalkeeper Lovre Kalinic will join from Gent in January 1 but is unlikely to feature. Jack Grealish remains out with a shin injury with no timeframe on his recovery. Axel Tuanzebe (foot) and Neil Taylor (hamstring) are out.
QPR will be without Massimo Luongo because of international duty. The midfielder could miss up to seven matches because of his involvement for Australia in the Asian Cup.
Geoff Cameron (ankle), Angel Rangel (thigh) and Tomer Hemed (groin) are out. Hemed has had a hernia operation and will be unavailable for several weeks.
Aston Villa have lost both of their last two league games against QPR; they have only lost three in a row against the Hoops once previously in league competition, doing so in March 1973.
QPR won this exact fixture against Aston Villa 3-1 at Villa Park last season; they last beat the Villans in back-to-back league visits in February 1987.
Aston Villa are unbeaten in their last eight league matches on New Year's Day (W5 D3) since losing 0-1 to Chelsea in 2001.
QPR manager Steve McClaren has alternated between victory and defeat in each of his last five league visits to Villa Park (W2 L3), losing 1-0 in his last away game there in February 2017 while in charge of Derby County.
Aston Villa forward Tammy Abraham has scored in each of his last four Championship appearances at Villa Park, scoring seven goals.
QPR have won four of their last nine away league matches (D2 L3), as many as they'd won in their previous 36 games on the road.
It's not been a great run for Aston Villa and they are starting to lose touch with the play-off places, having won just one of their last five games.
QPR saw their winning run come to an end on Saturday but they will be feeling confident of a result heading to Villa Park. But I just have a feeling that Dean Smith's side will have too much quality for them.
David Prutton predicts: 2-1 (8/1 with Sky Bet)
