Leicester City are without on-loan Chelsea left-back Patrick van Aanholt, who will be out for up to a month with a torn thigh muscle.
And striker Steve Howard is expected to be sidelined for another two weeks with an ankle injury.
MATCH PREVIEW
These clubs were promoted to the top flight together in 1983, when QPR were champions and Leicester took the last promotion spot. History could be repeating itself, with Rangers five points clear at the top of the table and the in-form Foxes hunting down a play-off place.
City were a mess when the R's beat them at the Walkers Stadium in September, but they have been transformed since the arrival of Sven-Goran Eriksson and have climbed from the wrong end of the table to one place outside of the top six. They have lost only one of their last 10 league matches, winning seven of them.
QPR were battling against relegation at this stage of last season but having been heavily backed in the transfer market and given much more breathing space than his predecessors, Neil Warnock has them on course for a return to the Premier League. They are unbeaten in 10 matches and effectively six points clear at the top because of their vastly superior goal difference, so Warnock was this week able to reflect on the first anniversary of his appointment with some satisfaction.
Warnock is a fortnight away from becoming Rangers' longest-serving manager since Ian Holloway's departure in 2006. The Yorkshireman has also been boosted by the return from injury of Akos Buzsaky, who started at Middlesbrough last weekend because Ishmael Miller had a slight hamstring problem. Miller, now fully fit, will hope to return to the starting line-up on Saturday - his 24th birthday.
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
• QPR have won 24 and Leicester 20 of the 54 previous matches between these clubs.
• A goal for Rangers would be their 50th in home league matches against City, and a win for the London club would complete their first league 'double' over them since the 1985/86 campaign.
Queens Park Rangers
• QPR have lost only one of their last 13 Championship matches.
• They have lost fewer games than any other team in the division (three), have conceded fewer goals (20), and kept more clean sheets (19). Their goal difference of +36 is by far the best in the second tier.
• Rangers are the only Championship team yet to be involved in a game that has produced more than four goals.
• A goal for Tommy Smith would be the 100th of his career.
• Wayne Routledge is set for his 250th league appearance, and Bradley Orr his 250th career start.
Leicester
• Leicester are one of only three sides to have won seven Championship games in 2011.
• They are averaging a goal a game away from home in the league this season (17 from 17).
• Paul Gallagher is one goal away from the 50th of his club career.
• Lloyd Dyer, who once had a spell on loan at QPR, is hoping to make his 100th start for the Foxes.
Source: BBC Sport
Source: BBC Sport