Premier League preview: QPR v Bolton

Bolton Wanderers are the visitors to Loftus Road on Saturday for Queens Park Rangers’ first English Premier League match since 1996.

QPR were promoted in impressive fashion under Neil Warnock last season, winning the Championship by four points from Norwich City.

The club have retained the services of the two main architects of that success, experienced manager Warnock and mercurial captain Adel Taarabt.

Warnock, 62, has been to the top flight before with home-town club Sheffield United, but proved unable to keep them in the division.

Morocco midfielder Taarabt’s Premier League experience has been even more fleeting.

He spent three years at north London club Tottenham, where he made seven first-team appearances before joining QPR, first on loan in 2009 and then permanently in 2010.

Gifted but inconsistent and reportedly difficult to control, Warnock managed to coax the best out of the 22-year-old last season and the continuation of their partnership appears to be QPR’s best hope of surviving beyond their first season.

Warnock has recruited strikers Jay Bothroyd and DJ Campbell from Cardiff and Blackpool respectively, as well as defender Danny Gabbidon and injury-plagued winger Kieron Dyer.

Promotion to the top tier would ordinarily be a cause for great celebration among long-suffering fans.

Not so for QPR supporters, with the club’s owners introducing an enormous hike in ticket prices, while failing to provide Warnock with significant funds to strengthen the squad.

And they face a hardened Premier League outfit in their first match back for 15 years.

Relegated with QPR in 1996, Bolton went up and then back down again in the next two seasons, before returning once again under Sam Allardyce in 2001.

This time they were here to stay.

Aside from a brief flirtation with relegation in 2008, Bolton have consistently punched above their weight and impressed last season under Scottish manager Owen Coyle.

Sweden striker Johan Elmander left for Galatasaray in May, and they have lost both new recruit Tyrone Mears and key midfielder Lee Chung-Yong to broken legs.

It will be up to two other new arrivals, midfielders Nigel Reo-Coker and Chris Eagles, to try and fill the void left by those absentees as Coyle seeks to improve on the club’s finish of 14th last season.