Queens Park Rangers will continue their pre-season preparations with a trip to Erdgas Sportpark in Germany for Saturday's friendly against Hallescher.
The hosts have failed to win any of their first three warm-up matches this summer while the visitors have claimed one draw and one victory from their two fixtures, scoring seven goals in the process.
Match preview
Hallescher will be competing in the third tier of German football for the 11th successive season after they finished the 2021-22 campaign in 14th place.
Chemie recorded 10 victories, 13 draws and 13 defeats from their 36 league matches, accumulating a total of 43 points which was nine fewer than the previous season.
Thirty-eight-year-old coach Andre Meyer, who took change in December last year, will be keen to see improvements made in the new campaign and he has already made his mark in the transfer market by recruiting eight new players. However, last season's top scorer Michael Eberwein has left the club to join Borussia Dortmund II.
Hallescher have endured a difficult start to pre-season as they have lost each of their first three friendlies. A 2-1 defeat to Czech top-flight side Teplice was sandwiched in between 3-1 and 2-0 losses against German fourth-tier outfits Hertha Berlin II and Chemnitzer respectively.
Chemie have two more warm-up matches against QPR and Rot-Weiss Erfurt to try to turn their fortunes around before their 3. Liga opener against Zwickau on July 24.
© Reuters
After finishing 11th in the Championship last season, Michael Beale is now tasked with steering Queens Park Rangers towards promotion contention in 2022-23.
The 41-year-old, who has replaced Mark Warburton in the dugout, has been appointed as a senior head coach for the first time after spending the last three-and-a-half years as an assistant to Steven Gerrard at both Rangers and Aston Villa.
While the likes of Charlie Austin, Moses Odubajo and Dominic Ball have all left QPR, Beale has bolstered his squad with five new signings this summer, including forward Tyler Roberts on loan from Leeds United and defender Jake Clarke-Salter who has joined on a free transfer from Chelsea.
QPR kick-started their pre-season with a 3-3 draw away at Crawley Town last weekend and they are now in the final stages of their tour of Germany where they have been based since Monday.
The R's secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Zwickau on Wednesday and after their fixture with Hallescher they will face both Wealdstone and Crystal Palace before their Championship opener away at Blackburn Rovers on July 30.
- L
- L
- L
- D
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Hallescher are expected to name a strong side on Saturday as Meyer's squad continue to build up their match fitness ahead of their season opener in a weeks' time.
Summer signing Andor Bolyki, who scored 19 goals in all competitions for fourth-tier side Berliner FC Dynamo last season, could be handed a start in attack, with Jan Shcherbakovski and Timur Gayet providing support from advanced midfield roles.
As for QPR, Beale used 21 players in the victory against Zwickau last time out and he is expected make several changes again throughout the match on Saturday.
Beale has confirmed that goalkeeper Seny Dieng will play against Hallescher and midfielder Luke Amos could also be involved after missing the last match, while Roberts is unlikely to feature due to a "slight issue".
Lyndon Dykes, Andre Dozzell, Stefan Johansen and Ilias Chair, who were all on the scoresheet against Zwickau, are set to be involved again this weekend.
Hallescher possible starting lineup:
Gebhardt; Landgraf, Vollert, Nietfeld; Kreuzer, Samson, Deniz, Hug; Shcherbakovski, Gayret; Bolyki
Queens Park Rangers possible starting lineup:
Dieng; Drewe, Masterson, Dickie, Hamalainen; Johansen, Field, Dozzell; Adomah, Dykes, Chair
We say: Hallescher 0-3 Queens Park Rangers
Hallescher are still searching for their first positive result in pre-season but they may struggle to come out on top against a QPR side who are likely to have plenty of joy in front of goal.
Having already beaten German third-tier opposition this week, we expect the R's to secure another comfortable win on Saturday.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Oliver Thomas
