As part of their pre-season training camp in Austria, Queens Park Rangers will butt heads with Czech giants Slavia Prague in a friendly match at the Raiffeisen Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Gareth Ainsworth's side will also take on Vorwarts Steyr before they travel back to base, while Jindrich Trpisovsky's side have already gleaned a pair of 2-1 wins in pre-season as they bid to regain their status as Fortuna Liga's top dogs.
Match preview
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Despite ending the 2022-23 campaign with a trio of successive wins to their name, Slavia Prague's recent spate of dominance in the Czech Republic was brought to a painful end, as their bitter adversaries Sparta Prague pipped them to glory by a mere two points.
Prior to seeing off Sigma Olomouc, Viktoria Plzen and Slovacko - the latter of whom conceded four to Vaclav Jurecka alone - Slavia Prague had come out on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline versus Sparta Prague in what ended up being a season-defining result, as Trpisovsky's side were denied a fifth consecutive top-flight title.
However, an 11th Czech Cup success did come the way of the Red and Whites - who gleaned a slice of revenge by defeating Sparta Prague 2-0 in the final - but they also missed out on a place in the Europa Conference League knockout rounds with a third-placed finish in Group G.
With the dust from those disappointments now settled, Slavia Prague began their preparations for the new season last Sunday, as two different teams locked horns with Maccabi Haifa and Rakow Czestochowa, and both outfits came away with 2-1 wins to their name.
Following Friday's friendly battle with Podbrezova, the clash with QPR will actually represent Slavia Prague's penultimate exhibition match of the summer, and they will finalise their preparations against Dynamo Dresden before the new Czech First League begins in the third weekend of July.
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While Slavia Prague were busy battling for glory at the top end of the Fortuna Liga standings, Queens Park Rangers were embroiled in a relegation dogfight in the Championship, but a half-century of points was ultimately sufficient to save their second-tier bacon.
Losing just one of their last four games and earning a pair of priceless wins over champions Burnley and Stoke City, Gareth Ainsworth's side had secured survival prior to matchday 46, where a final 2-0 defeat to Bristol City proved inconsequential for 20th-placed QPR.
Reading and Wigan Athletic's point deductions no doubt benefitted their fellow relegation rivals, but Ainsworth has hardly pulled up trees since taking over at Loftus Road in February, and even the QPR boss has admitted that he feels "scared" about the upcoming season as clubs come calling for their standout stars.
After they conclude their Austria training camp against Vorwarts Steyr next weekend, QPR will travel back to base to do battle with AFC Wimbledon, Reading and Oxford United later this month, before commencing Championship duties at home to Watford on August 5.
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Team News
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With only 24 hours separating Slavia Prague's upcoming two friendlies, it is impossible to tell which of Trpisovsky's troops will be kept in reserve for the clash with QPR, but the 47-year-old may opt to call upon more of his big hitters on Saturday given the calibre of opposition.
The Czech Cup holders have lost winger Peter Olayinka and playmaker Jan Matousek to Red Star and Bohemians respectively this summer, but they have reinforced their attacking ranks in equal measure, bringing in two strikers in Muhamed Tijani and Mojmir Chytil.
Norwegian midfielder Conrad Wallem has been their marquee signing - arriving for €1.5m (£1.3m) from Eliteserien outfit Odd - and the 23-year-old could make his non-competitive debut for the club here, while Ukraine Under-21 international Maksym Taloverov, who just suffered Euros heartbreak at the hands of Spain, is unlikely to come back just yet.
Meanwhile, a plethora of QPR players were released from their contracts at the end of June, with Leon Balogun, Ody Alfa, Luke Amos and Chris Martin among them, while Rob Dickie and Conor Masterson have departed for Bristol City and Gillingham respectively.
For the time being, QPR have managed to hang onto the likes of Ilias Chair and Chris Willock, but Ainsworth's squad has a rather thin feel to it, despite the arrivals of Taylor Richards, Ziyad Larkeche and Paul Smyth.
Chair was one of several internationals to arrive late for pre-season - a list which also includes Lyndon Dykes, Seny Dieng, Sinclair Armstrong and Kenneth Paal - and the quintet may be spared from the off and introduced as part of Ainsworth's inevitable raft of second-half changes.
Slavia Prague possible starting lineup:
Mandous; Tomic, Ogbu, Holes, D. Jurasek; Provod, Dorley, Wallem, Plavsic; Jurecka, Chytil
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Archer; Kakay, Dunne, Clarke-Salter, Larkeche; Adomah, Field, Dixon-Bonner, Dozzell, Willock; Kelman
We say: Slavia Prague 3-1 Queens Park Rangers
Slavia Prague are yet to find the formula for defensive success in pre-season, although Trpisovsky should not be overly concerned about his side's pattern of results over the summer months as players return to peak physical fitness.
The same can be said of Ainsworth's QPR, and while both sides will no doubt make significant in-game alterations, the Hoops' rustiness and depleted squad could both contribute to a pre-season beating.
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Ben Knapton
