Kone scored three by the quarter hour as QPR thrashed Swansea
QPR5 – 0Swansea 
QPR beat Swansea at Loftus Road, with the visitors holding most of the ball but creating very little.
Swansea had most of the ball at Loftus Road and still left beaten, because Richard Kone spent the first quarter of an hour deciding the match. He scored in the second minute, struck again in the ninth, and then converted a penalty in the 15th. Swansea held 61% of the possession, but the scoreline had little to do with who was on the ball.
Possession alone flatters Swansea a little. Their 61% was above the 56.2% they usually keep when they play away, so they were moving the ball with some authority. Chances were another matter. Expected goals, a rough measure where a value of 1 is about a certain goal, came to a fraction of the 1.07 they usually create on their travels, so their passing never turned into much danger.
Ball possession
QPR had 39% of the ball, well below the 49.1% they usually keep at home, and they did not need much of it. Their chances were worth 3.12 expected goals, more than double the 1.31 they usually manage at Loftus Road. They took eleven shots, five of them on target, and nine of those attempts came from inside the box, which is where the goals are usually scored from.
Kone's first goal came from Paul Smyth's assist and his second from Kwame Poku's, with Poku also providing the chance that set up the penalty. Kone finished the afternoon with a rating of 9.4, the highest of anyone on the pitch, and he also showed his value in the build-up. Jimmy Dunne added two of his own, one on the stroke of half-time and another in the 86th minute, the second of which Kone set up.
Swansea were not a side that gave up cheaply, though the match did not go their way. They committed fifteen fouls to QPR's seven and picked up three yellow cards to QPR's two. Lawrence Vigouroux was booked in the 14th minute, one minute before the penalty, and that sequence shaped how the first quarter of an hour felt for the visitors.
QPR conceded very little in return. Swansea's chances were a fraction of the 1.15 expected goals QPR usually concede at home, and Swansea's goalkeeper made no saves at all. QPR's goalkeeper had three to make, which tells you how little Swansea managed on target.
Swansea's last six away matches brought them four wins and two defeats, and the two defeats in that run were both by smaller margins than this one. QPR's last six at home produced one win, four draws and a single defeat. Both of Swansea's losses in that recent run were by smaller margins than this one.
R. Kone3 goals · 1 assist
J. Dunne2 goals
K. Poku1 assist
R. Edwards3 duels won