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.
9. Josh Windass and Michael Smith - doubts (continued)
Danny Rohl said on December 21: "With Josh and Michael it’s still a case of looking day-to-day, looking over 24 or 48 hours. “We have to think and I’ll decide on Saturday, but I’m also looking forward because we don’t have much time for recovery during the next two weeks. "They’re both on the pitch, which is a good sign, but we have to look how things are for the weekend." | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
10. Bambo Diaby - out
Bambo Diaby will miss the chance to play against his former club after picking up a red card in the Boxing Day defeat to Coventry City. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
11. Bambo Diaby - out (continued)
Danny Rohl said on December 26: "It was a hard decision at the end of the game, the game was done and then two red cards, one for either side. It is really hard. “It is OK, there are always emotions in the game but in what was a fair game there was nothing in it (the game). For us it is hard because the player will now miss the next games.” | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images