It’s our first trip to London of the season as we travel to the MATRADE LOFTUS ROAD STADIUM to play a struggling Queens Park Rangers team who haven’t won in their last nine attempts. Here are five of their players I think are worth noting down ahead of kickoff.
PAUL NARDI (GK)
Frenchman Paul Nardi is the opposition’s number one, having been signed on a two year deal in the summer transfer window. He’s only managed to keep one clean sheet so far this season but that came in QPR’s last game, a 0-0 draw away at automatic challengers Burnley. Prior to life in London, he turned out for Nancy, Monaco, Rennes and Lorient in the French leagues and Cercle Brugge and Gent in Belgium. Given that he was at Gent at the same time as Ahmed Abdullahi, the two will most likely know each other. In 2014 he was named the Toulon Tournament’s Best Goalkeeper whilst playing for France U20s.
JIMMY DUNNE (RB)
Of course he has previous associations with Sunderland, coming here on loan when he was at Burnley back in 2019, since then he’s blossomed into a quite a decent Championship defender and transitioned from a centre back to a right back. During his youth career he spent time with both Manchester United and Burnley and made his senior debut for Barrow during a loan spell. Following another four periods out on loan, with Accrington Stanley, Heart of Midlothian, us of course and Fleetwood Town, he was finally afforded a debut for the Clarets in 2020 in the League Cup and then just three days later he scored on his Premier League debut away to Leicester City. QPR picked him up permanently in 2021 and his late winner vs Birmingham City was named Rangers’ Goal of the Season for last season.
NICOLAS MADSEN (AM)
Before joining the Hoops this summer, Dane Nicolas Madsen started out with FC Midtjylland in his home country, winning a league title in 2020 before a brief loan spell with SC Heerenveen in the Netherlands. It was at Westerlo in Belgium that he really kicked on though, scoring 17 and assisting five in his 76 games for De Kemphanen. Since signing for QPR he’s found the back of the net twice in his 10 appearances, that doesn’t make him their top scorer (Michael Frey with three leads the race) but since their best goal scorer is out injured he may be their best chance of finding a goal against us.
KOKI SAITO (LW)
Japan U23 international Koki Saito has notched two assists in his 13 games for our opponents since joining on loan from Lommel of Belgium at the start of the campaign. Similarly to Madsen, that doesn’t make him their number one playmaker, Karamoko Dembélé has three, but he’s a doubt for this fixture. Saito made his senior debut for Yokohama in the J2 League in 2018 and helped his club to automatic promotion to the J1 League in 2019. In 2021 he moved to Belgium with Lommel, who played and still play in the Challenger Pro League (the second tier) but spent the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons out on loan in the Eredivisie with Sparta Rotterdam, where he was named in the Team of the Month in March 2023. At an international level he has been capped at every level for his country from U16 to U23 and won a bronze medal at the AFC U19 Championship in 2018. His 166 career appearances have produced 25 goals and 20 assists in total.
JAKE CLARKE-SALTER (CB)
Another player our fans will be familiar with, Clarke-Salter played 11 times for us in that ill-fated season in which we were relegated to League One during a loan spell from Chelsea. He made just three senior appearances at Chelsea between 2016 and 2022, instead finding most of his game time out on loan at Bristol Rovers, Sunderland, Vitesse, twice at Birmingham City and Coventry City. He did have a successful youth career with the Blues though, winning three FA Youth Cups and two UEFA Youth Leagues. Since moving permanently to the Super Hoops he’s actually been quite good, he was their Player of the Season in the last campaign. Internationally, he was part of the England U20 squad that won the U20 World Cup in 2017 and the England U21 squad who won the Toulon Tournament in 2018. He’s actually eligible to represent Ireland through his grandmother, an option he still hasn’t taken up yet for some reason.
