Paul Heckingbottom issues Preston North End injury update ahead of Norwich City as favourite nears return
Preston North End welcome Norwich City to Deepdale on Saturday and there’s some encouraging injury news.
Ali McCann could soon be in line for a return to the Preston North End squad.
The midfielder has been out of action since October after suffering a broken arm against Birmingham City, but earlier this week took to the pitch in a behind closed doors game.
North End played in a ‘bounce’ fixture on Wednesday and the 26-year-old was one of several players who benefitted from more minutes in the legs on the road to recovery.
Paul Heckingbottom on Ali McCann injury
When asked how this week in training had gone in his Thursday press conference, Heckingbottom said: “Good, a bit of downtime after the game on Saturday and then everyone back together. We had a little behind closed doors game which was good for the boys who needed it. Everyone was back today and a lot of match prep from now onwards.
“Keano, Ali, Pottsy, Andy (Vukcevic), Dai (Cornell) all played. Noah (Mawene) played the full 90 because although he’s been training with us a lot and been in the squad, he’s missed a lot of football, so yeah it was good.”
While it’s unknown whether McCann will return on Saturday to face Norwich City at Deepdale, PNE will be at least be boosted in the defensive department for this weekend’s game by the return of Liam Lindsay. He has served his one-game suspension following his red card versus Coventry City.
PNE boss’ injury update ahead of Norwich
Lewis Gibson, meanwhile is a ‘week closer and progressing really well’.
McCann’s fellow Northern Ireland international Jamal Lewis has been sidelined since the 3-2 victory at Sheffield Wednesday last month when he picked up a hamstring injury; he has not yet returned to first team training. Stuart McCall said on Saturday that he was ‘back on the grass’ last week.
The former Newcastle defender’s contract expires on December 30, but Heckingbottom clarified that there have been no discussions between him and Lewis over his future at Deepdale.
With so many players in good form, the PNE boss has admitted it’s been ‘difficult’ to give some returning players such as Brad Potts and Will Keane game time off the bench. Both are yet to kick a ball for North End this season, but they have slowly been brought back into the fold by being named on the bench - Keane in the last five games, Potts in the past couple.
“Any time is a good time [to welcome players back] when you’ve been missing what we’ve been missing, but I think, you look at Keano and Pottsy so far - Pol {Valentin) and Jordan (Thompson) less so when they came back because we were able to throw them straight in and give them 10, 20, 30 minutes at a time until we could start them - it’s been difficult to give Pottsy and Keano the minutes.
“But after the layoffs they’ve had, it’s been more important that they just get the confidence back in the body and the training. so great to give them minutes the other day in the [behind closed doors] game.”