QPR vs. Millwall preview, prediction, team news: Super Eagles star Femi Azeez chases EFL Cup

Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and Millwall open their 2026-27 seasons on Saturday with an all-London derby in the Carabao Cup first round at Loftus Road, Afrik-Foot reports.

The EFL Cup begins a week before the Championship this term, so this west London meeting arrives as a proper season opener rather than the usual midweek afterthought.

There is edge here beyond the trophy, because Millwall completed a league double over their neighbours last term, winning 2-1 at Loftus Road in October and 2-0 at The Den in April.

Alex Neil’s side finished third in the Championship on 83 points, one behind Ipswich Town, while Julien Stephan’s Rangers came home 15th after taking a single point from their final four fixtures.

For Nigeria’s expanding pool of English-based talent, the headline name on show is Super Eagles winger Femi Azeez, who tore through the second tier last season and now carries the £30m valuation Millwall have placed on him.

QPR vs. Millwall preview: form, aims and what is at stake

Stephan is into his second season at Loftus Road, and the mandate is clear after a campaign that promised more than it delivered. QPR sat 11th in mid-April before three straight defeats to Swansea City, Derby County and Ipswich Town dragged them down the table.

Pre-season has offered brighter signs, most notably a home win over Fiorentina, and Stephan has been busy rebuilding a squad that lost co-captain Sam Field to Norwich City. The goalkeeping department has been overhauled, with Manchester City loanee Pierce Charles and new arrival Calum Ward competing for the gloves after Paul Nardi and Ben Hamer were released.

Both full-back berths have been addressed on free transfers through Tariq Lamptey and Boy Kemper, though Stephan is still hunting a midfield partner for the excellent Nicolas Madsen.

Rangers are treating this tie as a competitive opener rather than a warm-up, with Stephan making no distinction between league and cup and demanding an immediate winning mindset before the Championship starts at Portsmouth on August 15.

Millwall arrive with a heavier reputation but a lighter recent record, having lost three of their five most recent games at The Den across the back end of last season. Neil guided the Lions to their highest finish in years, only for a play-off semi-final defeat to Hull City to end the promotion dream and extend the club’s stay outside the top flight to a 23rd consecutive season.

The response has been an active summer of change, with centre-back Elkan Baggott arriving from Ipswich Town and midfielder Mathis Servais joining from Belgium, while veteran playmaker Barry Bannan went the other way to rejoin Sheffield Wednesday. The concern is rhythm, because Millwall have won only two of their six pre-season outings and now have to knit those signings together on the road.

QPR vs. Millwall head-to-head record

Recent history sits with the visitors, who swept both league meetings last season without conceding much resistance at Loftus Road. Across the last 22 matches between the pair, Millwall hold eight wins to QPR’s six, with eight draws, a spread that captures how tight this fixture usually runs.

This is a rare cup meeting in a rivalry defined almost entirely by league dates, and with both managers likely to shuffle their sides, the recent scorelines are context rather than a firm guide.

QPR and Millwall team news and predicted XIs

Millwall have taken the bigger hit, with defender Tristan Crama ruled out after an ankle injury Neil confirmed was worse than the club first feared. That is a genuine loss, as Crama was an ever-present in the third-placed side last season and earned a place in the Championship Team of the Season alongside Azeez.

Summer signing Mathis Servais is also sidelined after limping out of the friendly win over Royal Antwerp. New Zealand international Max Crocombe, who started the bulk of last season between the posts, is the likely choice in goal.

Neil faces a further judgement call on Azeez, a £30m-rated asset wanted by Hull City, and a first-round cup tie is exactly the sort of fixture managers use to protect their most saleable players.

QPR are without the recovering Karamoko Dembele and Ziyad Larkeche, both working back from cruciate injuries, while Justin Obikwu is still short of match fitness. There is better news up front, where top scorer Rumarn Burrell is available again after the hamstring problem that wrecked his run-in, giving Stephan a genuine centre-forward option alongside Richard Kone.

Squad rotation makes any line-up a best guess, but the shapes below reflect the personnel and systems both managers leaned on through pre-season.

QPR predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Charles; Lamptey, Edwards, Dunne, Kemper; Madsen, Morgan; Saito, Chair, Poku; Kone.

Millwall predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Crocombe; Leonard, Cooper, Baggott, Sturge; Mazou-Sacko, De Norre; Azeez, Cundle, Neghli; Coburn.

Femi Azeez against Nicolas Madsen: the men to watch

Azeez was the outstanding attacker in this pairing last season, and his story has gone national since. Born in England to a Nigerian father and a Spanish mother, the former Reading winger committed to the Super Eagles in 2026 and marked his debut with two goals in a 2-0 Unity Cup win over Zimbabwe.

Madsen offers a different kind of value, with the Denmark midfielder voted QPR’s player of the season for his creativity from deep before signing a new deal in July.

The managers: Alex Neil against Julien Stephan

Neil is one of the second tier’s most proven operators, with promotions to the Premier League on his record at Norwich City in 2015 and to the Championship with Sunderland in 2022.

The Scot took over a struggling Millwall side in December 2024 and dragged them from mid-table to third inside 18 months, so patience with his rebuild is likely to be generous.

Stephan built his reputation at Rennes, where he won the 2018-19 Coupe de France, and he also managed Strasbourg before moving to English football.

His first year at QPR ended in a disappointing 15th, and a home derby is a useful early gauge of whether the summer business has moved the Hoops forward.

QPR vs. Millwall tactical preview

Expect Stephan to set up in a 4-2-3-1 with Madsen dropping between the lines to start moves and the new full-backs pushing on to stretch the pitch. QPR’s problem last season was conversion rather than approach play, and against a well-drilled Millwall block they will need Ilias Chair to find pockets and a striker to hold the ball up.

Neil’s Millwall are built on organisation, quick transitions and a real set-piece threat through captain Jake Cooper, who is a constant menace from corners and free kicks. Crama’s absence forces a reshuffle in defence, and with a makeshift back line still learning each other, QPR’s most obvious route is targeting that pairing in the air and on the counter.

The wildcard is Azeez, whose acceleration in behind is Millwall’s cleanest path to a goal if Neil decides the winger is worth the minutes.

QPR vs. Millwall betting tips and predictions

The market makes Millwall the favourites at around 5/4, with QPR the 21/10 outsiders and the draw available near 12/5.

That pricing reflects Millwall’s superior quality, but it arguably underrates the drag of their disrupted defence, a stop-start pre-season and the unpredictability of a rotated first-round tie away from home. Both sides kept things tight in this fixture last season, and Millwall’s away games late in the campaign repeatedly delivered low goal counts, which shapes the tips below.

Betting tips

QPR vs. Millwall score prediction

This has the feel of a cagey, low-scoring derby in which the tie is settled from the penalty spot.

Millwall are the stronger side on paper, but the loss of Crama, a modest pre-season and a first-round rotation make a comfortable win a stretch, while QPR carry the home advantage and a manager treating the game seriously.

Azeez remains Millwall’s likeliest scorer if he plays, with Kone or Burrell the men most likely to answer for the hosts.

Score prediction

Whatever eleven each manager settles on, the return of competitive football in west London should tell both dressing rooms plenty before the Championship gets going.