QPRvs.Spurs

Ange Postecoglou's side return to English soil fresh from a 5-1 battering of Hearts, while their Championship hosts hit Spanish minnows L'Escala for an extraordinary 11 without reply last Thursday.

Match preview

As reports emerged that Spurs boss Postecoglou was on the FA's list of contenders to succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager, the 58-year-old was dozing off before Tottenham's showdown with Hearts, where the Lilywhites' brilliant display should not have put anyone to sleep.

While Lawrence Shankland quickly cancelled out Brennan Johnson's opener at the start of the second half, Spurs' young stars took centre stage in the closing 45, as Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear and - to the surprise of many - Djed Spence struck before a Lewis Neilson own goal completed the rout.

Alongside reaffirming his commitment to the North London giants in his post-game press conference, Postecoglou talked up the "competitiveness" and "intensity" that his players showed at Tynecastle Park, where he sent out two separate XIs for each half on Wednesday night.

Having also put seven goals past Cambridge United in a behind-closed-doors training ground match, Spurs' trip to Loftus Road represents their final friendly before their latest tour of Asia, where Vissel Kobe, Team K-League and Bayern Munich will provide diverse opposition.

The latter team are also set to pay a visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to square off with Postecoglou's side on August 10, although it remains to be seen if all-time top scorer Harry Kane returns to North London for that fixture as he enjoys a post-Euro 2024 break.

While Spurs' quartet of strikes against Hearts was deserving of plenty of plaudits, upcoming hosts QPR tore Spanish fifth-tier side L'Escala to shreds last week, concluding their training camp with an 11-0 annihilation in which eight different players made the net bulge.

Ilias Chair notched a second-half hat-trick inside just 33 minutes for Marti Cifuentes's men, who had previously dispatched Santa Coloma 2-0 and coped with the sweltering 35-degree heat as well as the manager could have expected.

Cifuentes highlighted particular progress with his team's high press in their 11-goal obliteration of the Spanish minnows, which represented QPR's fifth straight win on the bounce across competitive and non-competitive fixtures, having closed out the Championship season with three straight victories.

The visit of Tottenham no doubt represents the most daunting fixture on the Hoops' pre-season agenda, as they play their penultimate warm-up game against Reading on July 27, before hosting Brighton & Hove Albion in their closing friendly a week later.

Frequent foes in years gone by, Tottenham and QPR last met in a competitive fixture in March 2015, where a double from Kane propelled the Lilywhites to a 2-0 away win, prior to which Adel Taarabt fired the Hoops' to their last success over Spurs in 2012.

Queens Park Rangers friendly form:

Tottenham Hotspur friendly form:

Team News

As expected, Spurs' wealth of international players - Rodrigo Bentancur, Cristian Romero, Giovani Lo Celso, Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Radu Dragusin and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - were not involved against Hearts, and the septet are unlikely to come back at Loftus Road either.

Ben Davies and Destiny Udogie are still on the mend from their season-ending injuries as well, forcing Jamie Donley to deputise at left-back in pre-season, while Richarlison was nowhere to be seen at Tynecastle Park either amid question marks over his fitness.

With no player earning more than 45 minutes at Hearts, Postecoglou may opt to put out a similarly strong XI from the opening whistle at Loftus Road, where new arrival Archie Gray should be tasked with filling in at centre-back once more.

Meanwhile, QPR were forced into a change just five minutes into their demolition of L'Escala as Sam Field picked up a knock, although the 26-year-old's withdrawal was described as precautionary by the club.

Nineteen-year-old Lorent Talla also lasted a mere 27 minutes last Thursday, but there is no indication that he picked up any sort of injury, although Lyndon Dykes is still on the mend from the injury that ruled him out of Euro 2024.

Hat-trick hero Chair made headlines for the wrong reasons in February when he was convicted of using a rock to break the skull of a lorry driver, which initially landed him a prison sentence, but his punishment has now been reduced to community service and a fine.

Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:

Nardi; Cannon, Cook, Clarke-Salter, Paal; Colback, Dixon-Bonner; Smyth, Andersen, Chair; Frey

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Austin; Porro, Gray, Phillips, Donley; Bissouma, Bergvall; Kulusevski, Maddison, Werner; Son

We say: Queens Park Rangers 1-3 Tottenham Hotspur

While QPR may now have the taste for goals, Tottenham are a much different kettle of fish compared to a fifth-tier Spanish team, and the gulf in quality should be evident from the off.

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