Queens Park Rangers finally get their pre-season campaign underway with a fixture against Crawley Town on Saturday afternoon.
While the Championship outfit are participating in their first game of the summer, League Two side Crawley are looking to build on a win over Eastbourne Borough.
Match preview
Having missed out on the Championship playoffs last season, it is all change at QPR with Michael Beale having been appointed as the replacement for Mark Warburton.
The former Aston Villa assistant has taken on his first senior role in the dugout having spent a number of years working under Steven Gerrard.
With a wide range of first-team players having left Loftus Road, Beale is under pressure to make signings, and three fresh faces have already arrived in as many weeks.
Following on from the defensive additions of Kenneth Paal and Jake Clarke-Salter, QPR wrapped up the loan signing of Leeds United forward Tyler Roberts earlier this week.
The Wales international should bring more quality in the final third, but Beale will want to sign more players as the London outfit progress through their five pre-season games.
Like opposite number Beale, Kevin Betsy has been handed his first job as a senior head coach having previously managed England and Arsenal in various age groups.
Betsy is joining a club which earned a respectable 12th-placed finish in League Two last season, and he has already been able to pull off a coup in the transfer market.
Crawley were able to win the race for the 2021-22 League Two top goalscorer Dominic Telford, the 25-year-old agreeing to pen a contract until 2025.
However, it was Kwesi Appiah who scored the only goal of the game as Crawley started their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 success at Eastbourne last weekend.
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Team News
With just five games in the pre-season schedule, Beale may be prepared to name his strongest possible team for Saturday's fixture.
However, Chris Willock may not be risked after recently returning to training after injury, while there will also be caution with Rob Dickie who has not played since April 5.
Providing that they are available, Paal, Clarke-Salter and Roberts will all expect to feature at some stage.
Against Eastbourne, Betsy fielded two different lineups for each half, as well as giving opportunities to seven trialists.
Some of those players - which included two goalkeepers - will likely be given another chance in this contest as Crawley make a step up in opposition.
We say: Queens Park Rangers 2-0 Crawley Town
With a new era starting at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium, everyone associated with QPR will want to make a positive start. Although Crawley will no doubt test their higher-profile opponents during the 90 minutes, we still expect the Championship side to prevail in comfortable fashion.
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