QPR vs Preston North End 7/5 Bet Builder – Mark O’Haire
QPR begin a brand-new era under Julien Stephan’s tutorship on Saturday afternoon with Rangers welcoming Preston to Loftus Road for their Championship curtain-raiser. A capacity-crowd is expected in W12 as the R’s bid to snap a run of three successive opening day losses, though their recent record against PNE provides encouragement.
The Super Hoops have tabled triumphs in each of their last four league meetings with the Lilywhites, taking top honours in four of their past six showdowns in West London. That includes back-to-back 2-1 victories over the Lancashire outfit in 2024/25 and QPR have been installed as 5/4 (2.25) favourites to kick-off their campaign with a win.
QPR vs Preston North End
Rangers’ recent record against Preston, alongside the R’s efforts against fellow bottom-half teams last term, suggests Julian Stephan’s side can make a positive start on Saturday. QPR posted W6-D3-L2 here against bottom-half opposition, whilst Oxford were the only non-relegated side to win fewer away games than Preston (W3-D8-L12).
QPR vs Preston North End
Goals haven’t been easily forthcoming in pre-season for QPR with Julien Stephen unable to play with an out-and-out striker in Rangers’ last few pre-season contests. Considering Preston also appear light in attacking areas, the likelihood of a high-scoring shootout appears bleak. Under 3.5 goals should be a solid inclusion for our Bet Builder.
QPR vs Preston North End
With Julien Stephan’s team tending to prefer possession, and Preston predominantly a reactionary team side under Paul Heckingbottom’s watch, QPR should be looking to dominate the corner battle. The R’s faced 7+ corners in only three Loftus Road dates last term with PNE reaching that threshold only twice on their travels.
QPR vs Preston North End
Oliver Langford has been given the gig, and whilst he averaged a reasonable 39.11 booking points per-game in 2024/25, the referee only flashed more than five cards in 14% of his overall 28 league assignments. I’m therefore inclined to oppose a high card count at Loftus Road with 80% of QPR outings last season seeing under 59.5 booking points land.
