Preston North End are set to face Premier League side Fulham at Deepdale on Tuesday evening, aiming to pull off an upset in the third round of the 2024-25 EFL Cup.
The hosts have defeated Sunderland and Harrogate Town to advance to this stage, while the visitors beat Birmingham City 2-0 in their second-round contest.
Match preview
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Preston suffered a disappointing end to the 2023-24 campaign, falling away from the fight for the playoff places and into a 10th-placed finish after suffering losses in all of their last five league fixtures with an aggregate score of 11-0.
Despite that failure, Ryan Lowe, who had taken over in December 2021, remained in charge and led the side into the opening match of the 2024-25 season, which they lost 2-0 to Sheffield United.
The manager left the club by mutual consent following that defeat, with Mike Marsh taking charge of two games, winning one and losing one, before Paul Heckingbottom was announced as the new permanent boss.
Heckingbottom had an extremely positive start to life at Preston, winning his first two matches with a 6-0 aggregate score, but they have since lost 3-1 and drawn 1-1 in the next two outings.
Preston will be aiming to return to winning ways in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, though they will be going into the match as underdogs as they face Premier League side Fulham.
The Cottagers will be rather pleased with how their first five fixtures of the 2024-25 campaign have gone, losing just one match across all competitions so far.
Marco Silva's side, who finished 13th last year, began the new campaign with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Manchester United but have since secured a league win against Leicester City, an EFL Cup victory over Birmingham City, and drawn league matches against Ipswich Town and West Ham United.
With a challenging run ahead, including league clashes against Newcastle United, Manchester City and Aston Villa, Silva will be hoping for a convincing win against Preston to boost confidence and build momentum going into those tough fixtures.
Team News
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A comfortable victory against Harrogate in the last round of this competition could result in Heckingbottom giving many of those players the chance to perform yet again in this competition on Tuesday.
Sam Greenwood scored twice in that victory and is expected to start once again against Fulham, with the striker aiming to find the net for just the third time this campaign.
As for the visitors, Carlos Vinicius will be unavailable due to a knock that is likely to keep him out of the side until later this month, with Raul Jimenez anticipated to continue in attack.
Tom Cairney is yet to make a start in the Premier League this term but after starting in the previous round of this competition, the midfielder is expected to start here.
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Woodman; Potts, Storey, Whatmough, Hughes; Whiteman, McCann; Greenwood, Frokjaer-Jensen, Okkels; Jacobsen
Fulham possible starting lineup:
Benda; Castagne, Andersen, Cuenca, Sessegnon; Berge, Reed; Wilson, Cairney, Iwobi; Jimenez
We say: Preston North End 0-2 Fulham
Fulham will be clear favourites for a comfortable victory heading into this match owing to their strong start to the season, and with Preston struggling in recent outings, we expect a victory for the visitors.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ellis Stevens
