Queens Park Rangers have four injury concerns ahead of Sunderland test

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The latest team news ahead of Sunderland’s visit to Championship rivals Queens Park Rangers.

Queens Park Rangers are without two key players ahead of Saturday’s home game with Sunderland - and are sweating over the fitness of two other members of their squad.

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Marti Cifuentes’ side are currently sat second from bottom in the Championship table after winning just one of their opening 12 games of the season. That one victory came on the final day of August when Nicolas Madsen and Michael Frey netted in a 2-1 win at Luton Town - but since then the Hoops have drawn four and lost four of their last eight games and will remain deep in trouble no matter what result they rack up against the Black Cats.

Swiss forward Frey has been one of the few highlights of the season so far after scoring four goals in 11 games in all competitions. However, the former Royal Antwerp star picked up a calf problem ahead of the recent draw with Coventry City and missed last weekend’s trip to Burnley. Paal also missed the visit to Turf Moor after sustaining a thigh injury and Cifuentes has already revealed he is likely to be missing the duo for a number of weeks, meaning they will miss Saturday’s clash with Sunderland.

He said: “Both have had scans and some tests. They will be out for some weeks. We don’t know yet how long, so we need to take it day by day.”

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There was a further blow for Cifuentes ahead of the draw at Burnley after Karamako Dembele and Morgan Fox both picked up injuries on the day before the visit to Turf Moor and failed late fitness tests and both players are being monitored ahead of the game against Sunderland. Despite being without four players, Cifuentes praised his players for battling their way to a draw against the Clarets.

Speaking after his side battled to an impressive draw at a Burnley side that are firmly in the race for promotion, Cifuentes said: “I’m happy because of the work ethic they showed and because of the togetherness to work together. We had four players out in the last 48 hours, two of them last night, and it was an extremely important point for us. It was a big challenge but we did well against a very good team.”

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