Norwich City boss drops hint for Preston North End clash as Paul Heckingbottom relishes Carrow Road return

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom expects nothing but a difficult assignment at Norwich City on Tuesday.

The Lilywhites make the long midweek trip to Carrow Road after a weekend of FA Cup action against Wycombe Wanderers. It was a 120-minute slog for PNE on Saturday while Norwich were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Derby County, in the Championship.

Heckingbottom now takes his team to face the Canaries, whom he made 16 appearances for during his playing days. Eighth placed Norwich are firmly in the play-off race on paper and North End’s manager knows his injury-hit side will need to stand up and be counted.

“It is (a tough test) because their form is generally better at home than away,” said Heckingbottom. “I wouldn't say they try and play any different; it's certainly been more effective at home. It's a good ground when it's going well down there.

“Especially in the summer, when they're all there in the yellow, it is a good ground. It was one of my favourites to play in so I'm looking forward to going back, but hopefully it's our fans that are singing down there.

“They're a big club, big team, good resources. They've got some really good players and year-on-year, I think that they're going to be up there competing - with my own knowledge of them and the club. So yeah, we know we’re going to a good team.”

“This is a really important thing...”

It was a 2-2 draw between the two clubs in the reverse fixture at Deepdale, with Norwich fighting back from an early two-nil deficit to take a point. Canaries head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup has emphasised the importance of his side’s counter-pressing against Preston.

“I was really happy about our overall defensive structure against Derby,” said Thorup. “This is a really important thing going into the Tuesday night game. They have some good runners up front. If we just open a bit too much space then they can be a threat in behind us.

“We know that they are definitely not afraid to bring balls down the channel or diagonal passes in behind, for the runners up front. So, we have to be front footed when we lose the ball and we have to be really, really quick in our reactions when we lose the ball in the final third.

“They are a difficult team to play against and that’s how it is. They are honestly not the only ones in the Championship. But, that’s credit to them because they have different kind of players - players who can dribble, make passes, good runners on the last line.

“And, they can create moments out of not too much, just sometimes a diagonal pass or an early cross and something happens. So, we have to be respectful of that and we have to be very disciplined in our tracking back and defending our box.”