The lowdown on QPR 0-0 Sunderland – Rangers remain winless at home following stalemate with league leaders

QPR remain in the Championship relegation zone after they were held to a goalless draw against league leaders Sunderland, who played the final half an hour at Loftus Road with 10 men.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

QPR: Nardi, Dunne, Cook, Field, Ashby (Hevertton 43), Madsen (Andersen 82), Morgan, Varane, Smyth (Saito 68), Chair, Celar. Subs not used: Shepperd, Aoraha, Dixon-Bonner, Bennie, Kolli, Lloyd.

Sunderland: Moore, Hume, Mepham, O’Nien, Cirkin, Neil, Bellingham, Roberts, Browne, Mundle (Connolly 64), Isidor (Hjelde 90+2). Subs not used: Nna Noukeu, Johnson, Aleksic, Jones, Rusyn, Watson, Mayenda.

QPR failed to make the most of a Jobe Bellingham red card as they drew 0-0 with Championship leaders Sunderland.

Bellingham was sent off for a lunging challenge on Zan Celar on the hour mark at Loftus Road but Rangers did little to make the most of the man advantage.

An injury-ravaged side had matched the promotion-chasers well up to that point, and missed an early chance to go ahead through Celar.

Sunderland captain Dan Neil hit the post from the edge of the box following a corner routine but Marti Cifuentes’ side defended well to earn a third consecutive draw.

They remain in the relegation zone and two points from safety ahead of games against Middlesbrough and Leeds later this week.

Cifuentes has a lengthy injury list to contend with and that clearly influenced his team selection.

He opted for a four-man defence that included Sam Field dropping into the backline from midfield and Harrison Ashby being utilised at left-back.

Kieran Morgan was handed his first professional start in midfield alongside Nicolas Madsen – who had not featured in the previous two games.

The midfield trio of Morgan, Madsen and Jonathan Varane ended up complementing each other well and helped to protect the makeshift backline.

Cifuentes had few senior options on the bench to change things in attack, and that particularly showed in the final half hour as his side struggled to fashion good chances to break the deadlock.

Jonathan Varane. Has been fantastic since returning to the side following his suspension and was impressive again here. Made four tackles and an interception, while holding together a midfield that included 18-year-old Kieran Morgan and the lesser-seen Nicolas Madsen. Morgan deserves plenty of credit for his performance but the protection that Varane offered the back four helped to keep the highest-scoring team in the Championship relatively quiet.

Varane v Bellingham. The duel between the two young midfielders throughout the first hour was brilliant to watch. For every time Bellingham would escape trouble with a body feint or clever pass, Varane would make up for it the next time with a perfect challenge or show of strength. From a Rangers perspective, the best of the battle came at the end of the first half as the Frenchman snatched possession from the 19-year-old and drove into the Sunderland penalty area before winning a corner. It was almost a shame that Bellingham’s afternoon was brought to a premature end, so good was the contest between the pair.

QPR fail to take advantage again. Rangers were only able to draw with nine-man Plymouth at Loftus Road back in August, and this was another game where they failed to adjust to how the context of the game changed following a red card. When they are in need of a goal to either draw level or go ahead, too often QPR can seem panicked and unable to create the sort of constant pressure that leads to goals when you are in the ascendency.

Celar still can’t find the net. Zan Celar arrived at Loftus Road in the summer as the potential answer to QPR’s lack of goals from forwards over the past few seasons. The last Rangers striker to hit double figures in the league was Andre Gray in the 2021-22 season. Celar has now gone 16 QPR appearances without a goal.

To be fair to the Slovenian international, he has featured mostly as a substitute but he has now started the last three games owing to Michael Frey’s injury. He missed a glorious chance to put his side ahead within a couple of minutes against Sunderland before going on to curl just wide with a chance he made all by himself after the interval. To turn the team’s better performances into wins, you would think Celar needs to start finding the net soon.

“I told the guys that it is easy in the situation where we are to look at the negatives of each game and each performance. My job is to try and keep balance. There is a way of looking at today’s game: we lost two points. The performance first 60 minutes was giving us the direction to achieve three points and then after the red card perhaps it seems easy, but I knew the game scenario would be totally different.

“Sunderland are a team that are doing really well defending in a low block. Sometimes you find a way to defend 30 minutes and survive.

“That’s one way to look at the game. The other is that today I see a team with big personality that once again, despite some setbacks with injuries, is trying to be stronger than this and focus on what we can control – our performances.”

PICTURES: ROB AVIS