Preston North End vs Birmingham City likely line-ups, key men, the referee, odds and all you need to know ahead of Championship clash

Jordan Storey in action against Birmingham earlier in the season

From likely line-ups to key men and the referee, all you need to know can be found below.

Likely line-ups

PNE: Rudd, Fisher, Storey, Davies, Hughes, Pearson, Nmecha, Potts, Johnson, Gallagher, Maguire

Birmingham: Camp, Harding, Morrison, Dean, Pedersen, Mahoney, Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Mrabti, Adams, Jutkiewicz

Key men

Paul Gallagher: After scoring his 100th career goal to spark the comeback at Middlesbrough in midweek, Gallagher will be tasked with helping unlock Birmingham’s backline this weekend. Showing no signs of slowing down, he is a key man for Alex Neil.

Che Adams: The frontman is far and away Birmingham’s prize asset. Linked with a big-money Premier League move in January, Burnley among his admirers, Adams has 21 goals for the season, including one in the reverse fixture.

In the visiting dugout

Garry Monk: The 40-year-old recently celebrated 12 months in charge of the Blues. He has brought some stability to St Andrew’s after much chopping and changing in the manager’s office. Monk started his managerial career at Swansea, the club for who he made more than 250 appearances as a player. Under his watch, the Welsh club avoided relegation and then finished eighth. He was sacked in late 2015 and his next job was at Leeds. Monk had a season there before going to Middlesbrough.

The referee

Scott Duncan: The Northumberland official will be in charge of Preston’s clash with Birmingham .This will be the fourth time Mr Duncan has refereed PNE this season. He was in the middle for the 3-2 defeat at Sheffield United, the thrilling 4-3 victory over Brentford and the Boxing Day reverse to Hull City. In his 26 games this season, he has shown seven red cards and 84 yellows. He was the ref who sent off PNE team-mates Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle for fighting in 2016.

Odds

PNE: 21/20

Draw: 23/10

Birmingham: 14/5

This week in PNE history

54 years ago: Preston beat Portsmouth 6-1 at Deepdale on March 13, 1965.Alex Dawson netted a hat-trick, with Tony Coleman, Howard Kendall and Dave Wilson also scoring.

42 years ago: Two goals from Alex Bruce delivered a 2-1 win for North End over Wrexham on March 15, 1977.

39 years ago: PNE made the trip to St Andrew’s on March 15, 1980, and earned a 2-2 draw with Birmingham City. Steve Elliott and Eric Potts netted for Nobby Stiles’ men.

28 years ago: On March 16, 1991, Preston beat Birmingham 2-0 at Deepdale with Lee Cartwright and Warren Joyce scoring.

23 years ago: PNE won 3-0 at Rochdale on March 12, 1996. Paul Birch, Steve Wilkinson and David Moyes scored.