Barclays Premier League

FT: QPR 0 TOTTENHAM 0

So it's a dour goalless draw to kick off the weekend's action in the Premier League, a result that while not being a disaster for either side is one that does little to help either's cause. The point is at least enough to lift Rangers off the bottom for now, but they are still a long way from safety. Spurs were good at the start of each half and then faded. They could have been in front inside five minutes but for a brilliant double save from Julio Cesar. The Brazilian tipped a sweetly-struck shot from Jermain Defoe on to the post, then denied Emmanuel Adebayor with an even better stop from the rebound. Cesar made an equally-important stop just after the break, keeping out a Defoe shot with his foot. That Hugo Lloris did not have a save to make all afternoon in the Spurs goal says all about the attacking threat from the home side. Shaun Wright-Phillips had two first-half efforts, the first deflected wide of the post by Michael Dawson and the second which he dragged wide. Defensively, Harry Redknapp's side were excellent against his old club, but they did not do enough to earn victory.

DEFOE SHOT BLOCKED

Defoe's long-range drive is blocked by Hill, who has enjoyed one of his better games today.

INTO ADDED TIME

There will be a minimum of two minutes of stoppage time.

QUIZ ANSWER

Earlier we asked you to name the Tottenham player who netted twice when Spurs last won at Loftus Road more than 17 years ago. It was Teddy Sheringham.

CHANCE GOES BEGGING

Taarabt plays in Wright-Phillips. It's a glorious opening, but the former Manchester City man stubs his toe at the vital moment and misses the ball.

BALE SHOOTS WIDE

A rash tackle by Mackie gives Spurs a shooting opportunity from the resulting free-kick. Bale's effort from 30 yards goes a couple of yards wide of the post.

IT'S QUIZ TIME

Who scored twice for Spurs when they last won on this ground in September 1995? Answer in a few minutes.

SPURS SUBSTITUTION

Tottenham make their second change, Gylfi Sigurdsson replacing the disappointing Lennon. It's the Icelander's 100th league appearance in English football.

ALERT CLEARANCE FROM LLORIS

Just for a moment, Taarabt looks to have put Wright-Phillips away, but Lloris is quickly off his line to boot the ball to safety.

LET-OFF FOR TAARABT

Taarabt is perhaps lucky to escape a caution after appearing to follow through late on Walker, who felt the full force of that one on his right shin.

RARE RANGERS THREAT

Taarabt plays a lovely ball to find Fabio in space down the left, but his final pass is just beyond the incoming Mackie.

QPR BOOKING

Mbia is booked for handball, which is a trifle harsh as Bale pushed him as they contested an aerial ball.

THAT'S ADEBAYOR'S LOT

That's the last action for Adebayor, who is replaced by Dempsey. He now heads off to the African Nations Cup in South Africa, after having a shower, of course.

ADEBAYOR SPURNS SHOOTING CHANCE

Some great interplay by Defoe and Adebayor set up the Togolese, who decides not to get in a shot and promptly overruns the ball.

SELFISH FROM TAARABT

That's Adel Taarabt in a nutshell. After beating his man and getting inside the box he tries to do too much and is robbed, with team-mates waiting more in hope than expectation for a pass.

INJURY FROM MBIA

Stephane Mbia looks to be struggling with an injury to his right leg. He's limping around, far from happy with life.

THEY'VE DONE THEIR HOMEWORK

It's difficult to fathom out quite how they have managed it, but Rangers have kept Tottenham's wing kings Bale and Lennon incredibly quiet this afternoon.

DAWSON HEADS OVER

It's attack against defence at the moment and Michael Dawson heads over from a Tottenham right-wing corner.

HARRY MULLS OVER A CHANCE

There's movement on the QPR bench. It would not be a surprise to see Taarabt make way. He can be brilliant on his day, the Moroccan, but he's had a stinker today.

LONG-RANGE SPECIALISTS

Rangers could do with trying a pot-shot or two from distance. Some 35 per cent of their goals this season have been scored with shots from outside the penalty area, more than any other Premier League side.

CESAR SAVES AGAIN

Spurs are so much more menacing now. Adebayor finds Defoe, who cuts inside and forces another vital save from Cesar, this one with his foot.

WALKER A FRACTION AWAY

Lennon goes down inside the area, but the referee rightly ruled that the shove from Fabio took place outside the box and it's only a free-kick. Walker's curler is a fraction over the bar with Cesar standing and watching, leaden-footed on his line.

OPTIONS ON THE BENCH

Harry Redknapp has Djibril Cisse, DJ Campbell and Jay Bothroyd on the bench today, the latter two recalled from loan spells in the Championship. It's fair to say Taarabt certainly won't be seeing out the 90 minutes today.

TAARABT BEING FRUSTRATED

Adel Taarabt had 45 touches in the first half, none of them inside the opposition penalty area. The Moroccan was cutting an increasingly frustrated figure towards the end of the first period. He really does not like playing as the lone front man.

CESAR'S AWKWARD SAVE

Spurs win an early free-kick 25 yards from goal. Bale's effort looks innocuous, but the ball swerves all over the place and Cesar can only save at the second attempt. Parker then shoots just over from 35 yards.

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Spurs get the second half under way.

HT: QPR 0 TOTTENHAM 0

Spurs started impressively and only the brilliance of QPR goalkeeper Julio Cesar prevented them from grabbing the lead inside the first ten minutes. The Brazilian dived to his right to turn a long-range shot from Jermain Defoe on to the post, then got quickly to his feet and dived to his left to somehow keep out a low strike by Emmanuel Adebayor from the rebound. Having weathered that early storm, Rangers grew in confidence and started to pause a threat or two of their own. The closest they have come so far was through Shaun Wright-Phillips, who collected an incisive pass from Adel Taarabt and saw his goalbound shot deflected round the post by Michael Dawson. Spurs lost Sandro to a knee injury midway through the half, which saw the introduction of Scott Parker. A cagey half, and far fewer goalscoring chances than we might have predicted.

WRIGHT-PHILLIPS SHOOTS WIDE

Wright-Phillips cuts inside Walker and Dawson to open up a shooting opportunity, but he drags his effort wide of the near post.

PARKER IN THE WARS

Parker feels the full force of an Mbia shoulder-charge and gets rather gingerly to his feet. The England manager Roy Hodgson is in the stands today and will be happy to see the midfielder seemingly none the worse for wear.

CARELESS IN POSSESSION

Mackie is robbed right on the edge of his own area, but Derry makes an excellent tackle to dispossess Defoe just when it looked as though Spurs might threaten.

THE RIGHT CALL?

Harry Redknapp won 71 of his 144 games in charge of Tottenham, a 49 per cent success rate. Who's the only man with a better record in the Premier League era? It's Andre Villas-Boas, with a 57 per cent victory ratio. Daniel Levy is a genius.

TOTTENHAM BOOKING

Dembele tugs at the shirt of Mackie as the pair chase a loose ball and is shown the first yellow card of the afternoon.

RARE CHANCE TO BREAK

A mistake from Derry lets in Spurs down the left, but Bale's cross is far too strong and a rare chance for a break is wasted.

DAWSON KICKS OUT

Michael Dawson sees his run to meet a Bale free-kick blocked off by Hill and takes a sneaky kick at the Rangers defender with his right leg as he falls to the floor. It was not particularly malicious and again Mr Probert chooses to turn a blind eye.

HARRY HAS TO BE HAPPY

Harry Redknapp has to be delighted at how his side are going about their task. They've not created much in the final third of the field, but are working tigerishly to snuff out the threat from Spurs.

WIDE FROM WALKER

Adebayor holds off Hill before teeing up Walker, who sees his first-time shot from a central position some 30 yards from goal go well wide of the target.

SPURS SUBSTITUTION

Sandro is helped to the sidelines. His day is done, but at least there is a more than capable replacement on the bench in Scott Parker.

SANDRO NEEDS TREATMENT

Sandro is down with what looks to be a twisted knee. He fell awkwardly under no pressure from any Rangers player.

TAARABT ESCAPES

There's another example of Mr Probert being in generous mood, as he refuses to pull out the yellow card for a clear dive by Adel Taarabt. Instead, there is just a cursory wag of the winger and a warning not to do it again.

TIMELY TACKLE FROM DAWSON

Gareth Bale shoots from distance, but his effort has all the venom of a back-pass and Cesar catches easily. At the other end, Dawson makes a great last-ditch tackle to deny Mbia.

HISTORY MEN

Victory would give Rangers back-to-back wins in the Premier League for the first time since December 1995, when they beat Bolton and then Aston Villa.

DAWSON ESCAPES A CARD

Dawson goes through the back of Taarbat's legs to get the ball. More often than not he would have collected a yellow card, but Mr Probert looks in generous mood and lets off the Spurs defender.

WIDE FROM SWP

Wright-Phillips tries again from the resulting corner, but his effort from 25 yards is well wide of the target.

WRIGHT-PHILLIPS DENIED

Taarabt slides a pass inside the full-back to Wright-Phillips. The former England winger's first touch is poor, but there is still a great shooting opportunity and Dawson snakes out a leg to deflect the effort wide of the post.

A WORK OF BRILLIANCE

It was a double save from Cesar, in fact, he tipped the initial Defoe shot on to the post. It's hard to convey just how good the stop from the follow-up was. Adebayor had all the goal to aim for from around 12 yards and how the Brazilian managed to get down so quickly and stretch out his left arm is beyond me. Just watch, he'll drop a corner into his own goal later in the match.

OFF THE POST

Spurs are so close to taking the lead. Defoe cuts in from the right and his shot cannons back off the post to Adebayor, who sees his low drive from the follow-up quite brilliantly saved by Julio Cesar.

NOT HAPPY WITH THE BALL

Julio Casar claims the ball is faulty after seeing a shot from Sandro swerve viciously. Referee Probert confirms it was the brilliance of the Brazilian and not defective equipment. The effort went miles wide, by the way.

WASTED BY TAARABT

Mousa Dembele concedes an early free-kick wide on the right, but Adel Taarabt cannot even clear the diminutive figure of Gareth Bale. QPR's delivery has to be better than that.

SUSPECT IN DEFENCE

Rangers have not kept a clean sheet at home since September and Tottenham are the only team in the Premier League to have found the net in every away game this season. Would it be fair to say we are expecting the visitors to score today?

HERE WE GO

QPR kick off, attacking the goal to our left.

TODAY'S TEAMS

QPR: Cesar, Onuoha, Hill, Nelsen, Fabio, Mbia, Park, Derry, Wright-Phillips, Taarabt, Mackie. Substitutes: Green, Ben-Haim, Ferdinand, Faurlin, Cisse, Bothroyd, Campbell. Spurs: Lloris, Walker, Vertonghen, Dawson, Naughton, Lennon, Sandro, Dembele, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Substitutes: Friedel, Assou-Ekotto, Caulker, Dempsey, Huddlestone, Parker, Sigurdsson.

TEAM NEWS

QPR make two changes to the side that won at Chelsea, with Shaun Wright-Phillips replacing Junior Hoilett and Ji-Sung Park replacing Esteban Granero. Spurs make just the one change from their win over Reading, with Gareth Bale coming in for Gylfi Sigurdsson having served his one-match suspension.

PREVIEW

QPR manager Harry Redknapp faces old club Tottenham in the Premier League's Saturday early kick-off for the first time since being axed by the White Hart Lane outfit last summer. Revenge, according to Redknapp, may not be top of the agenda, but victory certainly is, as Rangers look to build on that stunning victory at West London neighbours Chelsea last time out. “Spurs are a top side - a side I believe can win the league in a few years,” he told QPR's official website. “I said that when I was there and I haven't changed my opinion since. But it won't make any difference to me if it's three points against Spurs, or three points against anyone else. It is just another game to me. We need three points.” With Manchester City travelling to Arsenal and Chelsea facing a difficult game away at Stoke, this has the potential to be a very good weekend for Tottenham in their quest for a top-four finish and a Champions League place. First, though, they must take care of their own business. Score first and they could win at a canter like Liverpool did on their visit to Loftus Road, as QPR have collected just four points this season from losing positions. But the longer this match stays level the more of a threat this Rangers side will be as they look for a third victory of the season over a London club, having already beaten Fulham and Chelsea in the last four weeks. Today's game kicks off at 1245GMT, so join us around 30 minutes beforehand when we should have the confirmed team news, which will be followed by a match commentary.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Tottenham have looked so much more dangerous an outfit since Andre Villas-Boas finally got the message that two up front was better than one and this is the last chance he will be able to use Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor as a tandem before the latter departs for the African Nations Cup. Tottenham will have Gareth Bale back after serving a one-game ban for five bookings and he and Aaron Lennon will doubtless cause Rangers many a headache down the flanks. It must have come as a huge relief to Harry Redknapp when Adel Taarabt was not selected for Morocco for the African Nations Cup. Inconsistent he may be, but Rangers' leading scorer (he also is the club's assists leader), is capable of producing moments of genius. A word of praise, too, for defender Clint Hill. At fault for all three goals against Liverpool and made to look second-rate by Luis Suarez, he kept his head up and he and his defensive team-mates turned in a blinding performance to shut out Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the following match.

HEAD TO HEAD

Tottenham have the better head-to-head record in league meetings between the sides with 18 wins to 13 by QPR and 14 games being drawn. At Loftus Road, QPR have 10 wins to five by Spurs, with a further seven meetings ending up all square. The corresponding match last season on Apr. 21 was an eventful one for Adel Taarabt, who scored the only goal of the game on 24 minutes and was then dismissed for a second bookable offence 12 minutes from time. Tottenham are looking to do the double over Rangers this season, having won the reverse fixture at White Hart Lane 2-1 on Sep 23. Bobby Zamora gave Rangers a first-half lead, but an own goal from Alejandro Faurlin levelled things up just before the hour and Jermain Defoe netted the winner two minutes later.

FORM GUIDE

QPR start the weekend bottom of the table, with 13 points from 21 games. Their win at Chelsea last time out ended a run of three straight league defeats. Rangers have won just one of 10 at home. They are the lowest scorers at home, alongside Aston Villa, with eight goals and only Wigan have conceded more goals at home than their 19. That's hardly a recipe for success. Tottenham start the weekend third in the table with 39 points, a point clear of Chelsea, who play their game in hand at home to Southampton next Wednesday. Andre Villa-Boas' side are second in the current form table. They have won their last three and seven of their last nine in the league. Only Manchester United have won more than their six matches away from home and only United have netted more goals on the road (26 to 22, but having played one game more).

EARLY TEAM NEWS

QPR have Ryan Nelsen available despite the defender's agreement this week to take over as manager of Major League Soccer side Toronto FC. Nelsen has yet to agree a date for his departure from Loftus Road. QPR will be without Junior Hoilett (hamstring), Andrew Johnson (knee) and Bobby Zamora (hip). Oft-booked midfielder Samba Diakite will be receiving his cautions from match officials at the African Nations Cup for the next two or three weeks. Tottenham striker Emmanuel Adebayor is heading to the same tournament to play for Togo, but is available for this match. Defenders William Gallas (calf) and Younes Kaboul (knee) are ruled out.

MAN IN THE MIDDLE

Taking charge of today's game is Lee Probert, who was appointed to the Select Group Referees List in 2007. In terms of cards-per-game the Gloucestershire official was one of the most lenient in the top flight last season, producing just 44 yellow cards and four red cards in 22 matches. Probert has refereed 13 Premier League games this season, administering 38 cautions and dismissing one player, Fulham's Brede Hangeland, in the match with Sunderland at Craven Cottage. He also brandished a red card in his last outing, to Newcastle's Shola Ameobi in their FA Cup third-round defeat at Brighton. Probert's assistants today are Andy Garratt and Ron Ganfield, while Jon Moss is the fourth official.