Brentford and QPR may be rivals on and off the pitch but Dean Smith and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink are in agreement in that the August fixture pile-up is ridiculous.

Were both sides to progress in their respective EFL Cup ties against Exeter and Swindon, they will have played eight matches by the end of August.

And coming after pre-season, both feel the schedule is too much and feel they need to be creative with their squad.

QPR manager Hasselbaink said: “That's why we are so busy trying to strengthen our squad because, and I don't know why the league is doing it, if you look at the first month you're coming out of pre-season, not everybody is 100 per cent.

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"If you win against Swindon, you can have eight games in 34 days. It's ridiculous. I'm not going to play a weakened squad.

“You need your whole squad because if you're going to play 11 players you're going to ask for injuries.

“We have to be creative because you want to keep everyone as strong as possible but we have eight matches in 34 days if we beat Swindon.”

Brentford head coach Smith was critical of the fixture schedule at the end of last season where the Bees had eight games in April after three in March and he was equally damning about August's run.

Brentford manager Dean Smith

He said: “I think (Hasselbaink describing the schedule as) ridiculous is an understatement. You come through an intense period of training and games and you get seven or eight games in August.

“I don't know where it comes from. We played three games in March and eight in April and it's no different now. If we can spread those games out it'd certainly be better.”