Queens Park Rangers will make the long trip to Preston North End on Saturday in their first Championship game of the new season.
Queens Park Rangers begin their Championship campaign with a trip to Preston North End on Saturday afternoon, with new boss Steve McClaren looking to make a positive impact.
The former Derby County and Newcastle United manager took over the reins at Loftus Road from Ian Holloway in May and will be more than aware of the job in hand.
QPR will arrive at Deepdale the underdogs but with an air of optimism about them after a strong pre-season. The R’s only lost once – to Champions League opposition – and appear to have a particularly settled and enthusiastic young side.
Toni Leistner is the only new addition for McClaren so far at centre-back but with the likes of Bright Osayi-Samuel, Ebere Eze and Osman Kakay all likely to start, The Hoops will be reliant on the young trio.
Preston will be a tough nut to crack after they just missed out on the play-offs in 2017/18. Alex Neil’s side have a strong core of players and have added sensibly from the lower leagues across all areas of the park. Striker Graham Burke joined from Shamrock Rovers and big things are expected of him.
However, QPR will be confident that they can put pressure on Preston’s back-line and it’s likely that Osayi-Samuel will feature from the off. The 20-year-old was brilliant in the west Londoner’s 3-0 win over FC Union Berlin last Saturday and opened the scoring early on.
Right-back Darnell Furlong is sidelined through injury and the game comes to quickly for Grant Hall, who chalked up 45 minutes of a behind-closed-door friendly on Tuesday as he nears a first-team return. Connor Washington, Idrissa Sylla, Ryan Manning, Jordan Cousins, Pawel Wszolek and Paul Smyth are all likely to start on the bench.
Here is our predicted QPR lineup:
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