Preston North End face major test from Fulham at Craven Cottage

The Londoners might be promoted by the time PNE go there on Tuesday night, or they could be looking to complete the job of returning to the Premier League when North End hit the capital.

Nottingham Forest are the only side in the chasing pack who can mathematically overtake the Cottagers, with Forest in action 24 hours earlier against West Bromwich Albion.

A Forest victory would require Fulham to beat PNE to go up but them dropping points would see Marco Silva’s men promoted without kicking a ball.

Fulham had hoped to have got the job done by now and were in pole position to be promoted at Derby County last Friday night.

They led the Pride Park clash 1-0 at half-time but two Derby goals in the second half flipped the contest and gave the Rams victory.

North End have been in this position before of being the sideshow in a promotion battle.

Newcastle United beat them five years ago to clinch promotion back to the Premier League, while in 2014, Brentford’s 1-0 win over PNE secured them automatic promotion from League One.

Ryan Lowe will send his side out looking to cause an upset, whether or not that puts a promotion party on hold.

The Lilywhites boss wants a strong finish to the season and they head to West London on the back of two wins and a draw.

They need to see a pick-up in their away form, with their last win on the road having been at Peterborough on February 12.

In Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, PNE will face an old foe. The Serbia international has faced them a number of times for Fulham and Newcastle.

Mitrovic is on a staggering 38 league goals for the season – 32 was the Championship’s previous best - with his target to hit 40 goals for the campaign.

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