Preston North End are in action again as they host Sheffield Wednesday at Deepdale on Friday (December 29) night. The Lilywhites are in good spirits after defeating promotion-chasing Leeds United 2-1 on Boxing Day.
Alan Browne opened the scoring before Pascal Struijk's equaliser but Liam Millar in the final minute of regulation time gave PNE a valuable victory. It was a win that has kept them in the play-off picture and they are now just a point off of sixth-placed Sunderland.
Friday's opponents Wednesday suffered a different fate to PNE, and lost to Coventry City 2-0. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto scored in either half to give the Sky Blues the victory and to make matter worse for Wednesday, they were reduced to ten men in second-half stoppage time.
Former North End defender Bambo Diaby was given a red card, and as a result he will miss the next three games, and so he won't be afforded the opportunity to play against his former employers. Diaby was at North End for a season-and-a-half and left having made 25 appearances in that time frame, before joining Wednesday for an undisclosed fee last summer.
The two sides last met in August and North End won 1-0 at Hillsborough with Liam Lindsay scoring the only goal of the game. North End have a decent record against Wednesday, and have won four of their last five games against them with a 1-0 defeat in January 2021 being the last time that the Yorkshire men took points off of them.
Both sides have some injuries to attend to, but fortunately for PNE there were no fresh injury concerns against Leeds. Wednesday are still awaiting some of their players to come back, but it's not cut or dry whether they'll return on Friday. Here's the latest team news ahead of Preston North End v Sheffield Wednesday.
5. Robbie Brady - out
Came off injured against Swansea City. He wasn't in the squad against Leeds United on Boxing Day, and will miss another fixture over the festive period. | CameraSport - Ian Cook Photo: CameraSport - Ian Cook
6. Robbie Brady - out
"Yeah, he's got a small tear in his calf," said Lowe on Robbie Brady. "It's not too bad though, to be fair. "But, he is disappointed because he wanted to get a run of games. He will probably miss the next few weeks and be back in the first or second week of January." | CameraSport - Dave Howarth
7. Josh Windass - doubt
Windass hasn’t been in the match-day squad for the last four games. He has had to deal with a muscle injury and has been touch-and-go ever since." | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
8. Michael Smith - doubt
Smith came back for an 11-minute cameo against Stoke City after missing four games, but since then has missed another four. A muscle issue was what he has had to deal with but right now he is struggling to overcome his niggle. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images