Championship outfit Preston North End will take on League Two side Mansfield Town in the first round of the EFL Cup on Saturday afternoon.
Preston are due to begin their new league season at home to Swansea City on September 12, while Mansfield's 2020-21 League Two campaign will start against Tranmere Rovers on the same day.
Match preview
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Preston ended their 2019-20 Championship season with a 1-1 draw at Bristol City on July 22, which ultimately saw them finish in ninth position in the table, four points off the playoff positions.
Alex Neil's side have been preparing for the new season in recent weeks, though, opening their preparations for 2020-21 with a 3-1 victory away to Salford City on August 22.
Preston will enter this match off the back of a 1-1 draw with Tranmere on Tuesday, and they will actually play two more friendlies against Premier League duo Sheffield United and Everton before opening their new Championship season at home to Swansea City on September 12.
In truth, the EFL Cup is not high up the club's list of priorities at the moment, but the Lilywhites will certainly be targeting a spot in the second round of the competition.
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Mansfield, meanwhile, have played three friendlies over the last couple of weeks, beating Nottingham Forest on August 18, in addition to losing against Peterborough United and Rotherham United.
The club's 2019-20 League Two season was brought to an end prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic, meaning that they have not been in competitive action since beating Northampton Town on March 7.
The Stags ultimately claimed 21st in the third tier last term, and it could be another difficult campaign for the club, who will face Manchester City Under-23s in the EFL Trophy on September 8 ahead of their league opener at home to Tranmere on September 12.
Head coach Graham Coughlan has been highly critical of the scheduling of this game, though, and recently told BBC Sport that his side are "three weeks away from being ready".
"It's running the risk of injury before a ball has been kicked. We're nowhere near ready to go. We've been forced into it with the threat of expulsion or fines if we didn't co-operate and play against Preston," he added.
Preston North End EFL Cup form: WWLWWL
Mansfield Town EFL Cup form: LLLWLL
Team News
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Preston boss Neil is expected to name a strong XI for this weekend's contest, meaning that Sean Maguire could again start as the centre-forward with support from Daniel Johnson.
It has been a quiet summer for the club thus far in terms of incomings and outings, and there are not expected to be too many surprise names in the home side's starting team on Saturday.
As for Mansfield, there could be debuts for the likes of Ferrend Rawson, Rollin Menayese, Corey O'Keefe, Jordan Bowery and Marek Stech following their arrivals during this summer's transfer window.
Former Premier League defender James Perch is also likely to feature for the visitors, having joined the club on a free transfer following his exit from Scunthorpe United.
Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Rudd; Rafferty, Bauer, Storey, Hughes; Ledson, Gallagher; Potts, Johnson, Harrop; Maguire
Mansfield Town possible starting lineup:
Stech; Perch, Rawson, Menayese, Sweeney; Benning, Charsley, O'Keeffe, Maris; Reid, Bowery
We say: Preston North End 2-0 Mansfield Town
Mansfield, by their own admission, are not ready for a competitive match, and it is difficult to look past Preston this weekend. We expect the Championship side's quality to prevail and have backed a 2-0 home success.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:dataData 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 44.8%. A win for Mansfield Town had a probability of 30.02% and a draw had a probability of 25.2%.
The most likely scoreline for a Preston North End win was 1-0 with a probability of 9.85%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.16%) and 2-0 (7.56%). The likeliest Mansfield Town win was 0-1 (7.77%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.92%). The actual scoreline of 4-0 was predicted with a 1.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Preston North End would win this match.
