Neither side have had much joy in their opening league fixture of a new season in recent years; while Preston have failed to come out on top in their last five such matches, Sheffield United have won their opening league game just once in the last 10 seasons.
Both teams will be keen to get the ball rolling and make a positive start to 2024-25, but a tight contest could be in store at Deepdale and few would be surprised to see the spoils shared on Friday.
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Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sheffield United win with a probability of 39.17%. A win for Preston North End had a probability of 34.91% and a draw had a probability of 25.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sheffield United win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.53%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.52%) and 0-2 (6.59%). The likeliest Preston North End win was 1-0 (8.89%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.3%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sheffield United would win this match.
-0.05) 
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