Preston North End in Numbers: Aiming to end on a high

Connor Ripley made his PNE debut last weekend

The Lilywhites finished their Deepdale campaign with eight league wins, 10 draws and five defeats.

They head to Griffin Park with eight away victories to their name and chasing a ninth to finish 2018/19 on a high note.

If they do win in London, it would be the third time in the last four seasons that North End have had more away wins than home.

They did that in 2015/16, their first campaign back in the Championship when they won seven at Deepdale and eight on the road.

Last season, Preston won nine home games and 10 away.

Deepdale hasn’t been the stronghold North End would have wished over the last decade.

Only three times in the last 10 seasons have they won double figures of home league games.

In 2013/14 – the season PNE lost to Rotherham in the play-off semi-finals – they won 12 at home and 11 away.

The following campaign, which saw the Lilywhites promoted via the play-offs, they won 13 home league games and 12 away. Then in 2016/17, Simon Grayson’s  final season at the helm, North End won 11 at home and five away.

Going further back, their home form when they made the play-offs three times at this level could be used as a yardstick to what could be needed in the future.

In 2000/01, PNE won 12 home games as they reached the play-off final.

There were 14 home wins in the 2004/05 campaign which saw Preston beaten in the final by West Ham.

The next season when they fell at the semi-final hurdle, they won 11 home league matches.

This term, North End have the joint-lowest number of home wins in the top 12 with Bristol City.

However, their away form compares well.

Derby County, Swansea, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest – all above them in the table – cannot match Preston’s eight away victories.

On the appearances front, Alex Neil has not been afraid to hand out PNE debuts this season.

Connor Ripley became the 14th player to have made his Preston bow during this campaign when he played against Sheffield Wednesday last week.

Thirteen of those debuts were in league matches, the exception being Michael Crowe in January’s FA Cup tie against Doncaster.

Of the PNE debutants in the league games, only Brad Potts, Brandon Barker and Ripley had played in the Championship before.