Town welcome Queens Park Rangers to the John Smiths Stadium on Saturday for our opening home league game of the season. The gulf between the two clubs is immense with Rangers having upwards of 75 England appearances as well as more than 100 senior appearances for other national teams between their squad members. We on the other hand have Oliver Norwood, Paul Dixon, Martin Paterson and Joel Lynch, who between them have a mightily impressive 28 international appearances between them.

Both teams have to achieve their goals this season, for financial reasons as much as anything else. Town chairman Dean Hoyle has invested a decent amount of money in the club and wants our future to be sustainable, something that only be achieved by remaining in the Championship. QPR chairman Tony Fernandes however isn't that interested in sustainability and wants to buy success - with their wage bill failure to return to the Premier League's vast riches at the first time of asking would be a disaster.

The signing of James Vaughan this summer was met with celebrations in Huddersfield as we spent a reported £1m on our 'marquee' signing. That is a big fee for a club of our size. QPR on the other hand boast a squad full of 'marquee' players. Sean Wright-Phillips has cost clubs a total of £40m in his career and Andy Johnson close to £20m, while clubs have departed with at least £8m for the services of Stephane Mbia, Esteban Granero, Jermaine Jenas and Anton Ferdinand. Silly money for players of their abilities in all honesty.

QPR, assisted by parachute payments which help teams who overspend in the Premier League gain an unfair advantage over Championship teams who have to live within their means, have been active in the transfer market over the summer. Big names such as Loic Remy, Adel Taarabt, Christopher Samba., Djibril Cisse, Jose Bosingwa and Julio Cesar (soon) have departed, making way for new signings. Charlie Austin signed from Burnley for £5m after a proposed move to every other club in England fell through, while Danny Simpson, Richard Dunne and Gary O'Neil provide plenty of top level experience.

It's probably been made abundantly clear already that Rangers will be fancied by the bookies for pretty much every game they play this season, and they're also currently 5/1 favourites to win the league (Skybet). One would say that would put pressure on them, but with the experience throughout their squad that shouldn't be an issue. Quite simply, given the resources at their disposal, and the calibre of player in their squad, it would be a massive flop were they not to be promoted this season. Stranger things have happened though, Blackburn spent big last season and only narrowly avoided relegation.

Rovers went through four different managers last season, and it will be interesting to see whether QPR have any managerial changes this time round. The man currently in the hot-seat at Loftus Road is none other than tax dodging former favourite for the England job, Harry Redknapp. He was appointed to try and save them from the drop last season but despite spending big in January he had very little affect on the clubs survival bid. He has however managed in the Premier League with five different clubs and has over 1,000 games in management under his belt.

Town manager Mark Robins is new to football management in comparison with Redknapp. He has achieved success everywhere he's managed but his successes have been modest compared to winning the FA Cup or qualifying for the Champions League. Robins stated the stability and potential of Huddersfield Town is what tempted him away from Coventry and wants a long stay in West Yorkshire to help the club grow and in turn help build his reputation. A win against a side like QPR will no doubt be something he'd love to achieve and he'll be getting that message across to the players.

The fact that they have such high profile personalities within their camp means that Rangers will be the team everyone wants to beat this season. Redknapp is one of the most disliked managers in the country, and in Joey Barton QPR definitely have the most disliked player in the country. No doubt both will take plenty of stick from the stands this weekend and the Town players will be relishing the opportunity of getting one over on them. Playing against the biggest and the best is what being a professional footballer is all about, and the Town players have a chance this weekend to show we belong in the Championship with them.

We haven't had much of a chance to test ourselves at all against QPR in recent seasons as we haven't been in the same league since 2003. Rangers did the double over us in that campaign, comfortably defeating us 3-0 in both games on their way to a 4th placed finish and subsequent Playoff Final defeat against Cardiff. Those 3-0 losses were a good measuring stick for our season as we were relegated to Division Three - although we've bounced back better than fellow relegated clubs Mansfield, Cheltenham and Northampton since then.

The name that stands out in that Town team from the previous meeting between the two teams is Jonathan Stead. It was the following season when he would really make his mark, scoring 16 goals in Division Three before moving to Blackburn for a fee of more than £1m. He's had spells at Sunderland, Sheffield United and Bristol City since but this summer moved back to his hometown club. Although not 100% fit he looked sharp in the Carling Cup victory against Bradford and should play a big part for us as the season goes on, even if he isn't fit enough to start this weekend.

One player who is fit and raring to go this weekend is James Vaughan. He finished as top goalscorer on loan from Norwich last season and also won our Player of the Year award, but is now officially a Town player having signed permanently in the summer. He opened his account for the season with two goals against Bradford in midweek and will always start when fit. Whether he starts alongside another striker in a 3-5-2 system like we played midweek, or by himself in Robins preferred 4-2-3-1 system, is open for debate. I think the latter is more likely as we were very solid at Forest, even if we lacked creativity.

Adam Hammill showed on Tuesday night that he can provide that creativity and I expect him to start on Saturday in a more attacking version of Robins favourite system. Sean Scannell should keep his place on the left while Adam Clayton showed midweek that he's much more adept to the number ten role that Martin Paterson who has failed to impress in his brief time in West Yorkshire to date. I'd stick with Jonathan Hogg and Ollie Norwood in midfield - Gobern for me is too similar to Hogg while Norwood can move us forward from the back and play a quick passing game more effectively.

Looking at those teams, it's obvious QPR are huge favourites for this game, but from a Town fans perspective I certainly think we have a chance. If we can get Hammill and Scannell into the game and attack down the flanks we definitely have the ability to cause them problems, and with Vaughan up front we have someone who can benefit from balls into the box. Unfortunately I don't think that will be enough and my prediction for this weekend's match is a 2-0 win for Rangers to continue their steady start to the season.