Weakened by Paterson's injury and Diaby's suspension, a Sheffield Wednesday side who were already struggling to make waves on the road are destined to endure another miserable away day on Friday.
Despite their recent inconsistency, Preston could also enjoy the belated Christmas gift of a first home clean sheet of the 2023-24 season, and potentially a surge back into the playoff spots if other results go in their favour.
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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 Preston North End win with a probability of 40.77%. A win for Sheffield Wednesday had a probability of 32.8% and a draw had a probability of 26.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Preston North End win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.45%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.62%) and 2-0 (7.17%). The likeliest Sheffield Wednesday win was 0-1 (9.17%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.57%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 9.2% likelihood.