With the Championship run-in hotting up in the final weeks of the season, Preston North End will welcome Huddersfield Town to Deepdale on Tuesday.
The hosts sit seven points off the final playoff place in the Championship table with a game in hand on sixth-placed Norwich City, while their visitors jumped out of the relegation zone with a crucial return to winning ways at the weekend.
Match preview
© Reuters
Preston North End return to action on Tuesday with the aim of keeping any faint Championship playoff hopes alive this season, having lost ground in the top-six race since the recent international break.
Setting out to improve on last season's 12th-placed finish and push for a first return to England's top flight since 1961, the Lancashire outfit sat in a relatively positive position prior to the break in play, having amassed 56 points from 37 outings, and they strengthened their claim on their return to action with a 3-0 beating of basement side Rotherham United at the end of March.
A trip to relegation-threatened Birmingham City quickly followed on Easter Monday, and Ryan Lowe's side were unable to follow up the three-point haul, falling to a disappointing 1-0 defeat as Jay Stansfield netted the only goal 22 minutes from time.
Setting out to bounce back and keep pace with sixth-placed Norwich City and the chasing pack, the Lilywhites most recently travelled to Vicarage Road to meet Watford on Saturday, and they left with a share of the spoils as neither team managed to break the deadlock.
Having now dropped to 10th spot in England's second tier as a result of their failure to build a sufficient run thus far, Preston North End find themselves seven points off Norwich in the final top-six spot with six games to play and one in hand, but with any faint hopes resting on a fine run to end the season and the likes of Norwich, Coventry City and Middlesbrough falling short, they will be desperate to return to winning ways at Deepdale on Tuesday.
© Reuters
In their way stand a visiting side who are in desperate need of three more points in their fight at the other end of the division, having given their survival hopes a major boost at the weekend.
When Andre Breitenreiter took over at the John Smith's Stadium in late February, Huddersfield Town sat in a concerning position just above the Championship relegation zone on 34 points from 33 league games, and despite an opening win away at Watford, he was unable to inspire a climb away from the bottom three in the following weeks.
The Terriers went on to endure a six-match run without another victory, collecting just three points along the way, and after returning from the recent international break with a 3-1 defeat to Coventry City and a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Stoke City, they set out to bounce back in a pivotal meeting with Millwall on home turf on Saturday.
That game looked set to end goalless, but Rhys Healey popped up with a 94th-minute winner to snatch all three points for the Yorkshire outfit in dramatic fashion, making it two Championship wins under Breitenreiter and nine for the season, just three of which have come away from home.
Having escaped the bottom three thanks to that return to winning ways, albeit with just a one-point lead over 22nd-placed Birmingham City and 23rd-placed Sheffield Wednesday with five games left to play, Huddersfield Town's work is far from done, and they will set out to correct their away form and make it back-to-back victories on Tuesday to establish a slight cushion in their bid for survival this term.
Team News
© Reuters
Preston North End will remain without forward Ched Evans due to an injury on Tuesday, while midfielder Ryan Ledson and winger Brad Potts have been absent in recent weeks and are unlikely to return in time to feature.
Liam Millar, who has been a key man going forward on the left-hand side this term, also missed their meeting with Watford and could again be absent on Tuesday, meaning Andrew Hughes and Robbie Brady may continue in wing-back roles with Jack Whatmough hoping to drop back into a defensive trio with Jordan Storey and Liam Lindsay after filling in alongside Ali McCann in midfield at the weekend.
Lowe is short on midfield options, though, with Alan Browne and Ben Whiteman also sidelined, leaving Duane Holmes and 19-year-old Noah Mawene to fight to join McCann, while the front three of Will Keane, Emil Riis Jakobsen and Milutin Osmajic should go unchanged, with the former leading the squad's scoring charts with 12 Championship goals so far this term.
Huddersfield also travel to Deepdale with a long injury list to contend with, as defenders Radinio Balker, Yuta Nakayama, Josh Ruffels and Tom Lees remain confined to the treatment room alongside key midfielders Jonathan Hogg and Jack Rudoni.
Andre Breitenreiter may opt to field an unchanged starting XI from their win over Millwall at the weekend, although Rhys Healey certainly has a claim to come in from the start up top, having scored the decisive goal off the bench after Delano Burgzorg and Bojan Radulovic were preferred.
The front two should again have support from wide in the form of Josh Koroma and Sorba Thomas, while David Kasumu and Alex Matos will continue their midfield partnership with Matty Pearson and Michal Helik bound to continue at the heart of a back four.
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Whatmough; Brady, McCann, Holmes, Hughes; Keane; Riis, Osmajic
Huddersfield Town possible starting lineup:
Nicholls; Spencer, Pearson, Helik, Jackson; Thomas, Matos, Kasumu, Koroma; Healey, Radulovic
We say: Preston North End 1-1 Huddersfield Town
Preston North End have not found their groove in the run-in, and while any playoff hopes are resting on a return to winning ways on Tuesday, we can see them being frustrated by a Huddersfield Town side with renewed optimism in their survival bid.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
