How Hull City will look to try and combat 'dangerous' QPR's unusual challenge
Hull City will arrive at Loftus Road on Tuesday night looking to make it successive wins for the first time since February, having notched wins over Stoke City and Cardiff City in their last two outings.
Saturday's 4-1 success over the bottom side backed up the 3-1 away win a week earlier in the Potteries and lifted some of the gloom - and pressure - that had been circling above the MKM Stadium in the early weeks of the season.
City's trip to the capital sees them take on a QPR outfit beaten at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday with the Rs without a home win yet this season and just one win in seven so far, that coming away at Luton Town last month.
Tigers boss Tim Walter, who will be able to call upon two-goal hero Mohamed Belloumi after initial injury fears were put to bed on Monday, believes the tight surroundings of Loftus Road will pose an issue for his side, and one they must overcome.
One of England's historic football cathedrals, Loftus Road is well-known for being one of the tightest arenas in the Championship with one of the smaller playing surfaces, and for a team who like to spread the ball around in wide open spaces, Walter admits it is a factor and something his players must find a way to deal with.
"It's a tough game over there," he told Hull Live. "They have the smallest pitch in the whole Championship, so it's even harder to stay confident and stay straight over there because it's really small and narrow, so we have to take care. It's a dangerous game, it's a tough game, but we are well prepared and that's what we have to show tomorrow again."
Given the tight turnaround since Saturday's game with Cardiff, Walter hasn't been able to prepare on the training pitch with a shortened pitch. "No, we did not have enough time to do something like that because the boys had to recover," he said when asked if training had been tweaked slightly.
"You couldn't train, now it's the second day after the game, so it's the hardest day because in this period, the most injuries could happen and that's the reason why we couldn't do it."
"It depends a bit on the opposition. You have to be more straight, you have to be more clear and you have to play faster. You have to keep up the ball speed, also the duels will be really important, you have to fight for your ball, you have to fight for the win and that's what I said to the boys; they can show that they can do it, to stay strong away and that's important.
"They play a lot of long balls, it's straightforward playing on transition which is good for us because we can improve ourselves. It's a privilege to have pressure, but it's also a pleasure to play such games because we can improve over there and that is what I want to see from my boys, that they stay strong, even if it's harder with more fighting, more headers, more duels - that's what we have to show."
City were tepid in a 2-0 defeat at Rangers in December last season, a result which hampered their hopes of a play-off push and Walter says the challenge facing them both at Loftus Road and Carrow Road this week is a big test of their credentials, and one he's looking forward seeing how his players respond to.
"I agree (big test of their ability to challenge this season). "I agree, but we have to learn it. Until now we we didn't have the challenge, it's good to have them because there are more games. Throughout the winter, the games will be even harder, and that's important to see that how we behave in such situations, because, perhaps, we didn't have them until now."