Preston North End injury update on Alfie Devine, Lewis Gibson and Liam Lindsay ahead of Stoke City

Graham Alexander says Preston North End will be without Lewis Gibson for possibly more than a month after learning the full prognosis of his injury, but there is more positive news on Alfie Devine.

Alexander has only been able to play centre-back Gibson once since taking charge of Preston, when he came on as a second-half substitute in the defeat at Birmingham City. However, he then pulled out of the squad to face Wrexham despite making the trip to Wales and has been out since with a groin injury.

The manager revealed Gibson also underwent a procedure to deal with a hernia on Saturday, but that wasn’t expected to keep him out for any longer than was already expected.

It’s not been confirmed that the 26-year-old is set for a significant spell on the side lines.

Speaking ahead of facing Stoke City on Saturday, Alexander told The Post: “We're thinking about a month, over a month, to be honest.

“Obviously it'll be after the international break, little bit of a delay on that one.”

Alfie Devine and Liam Lindsay injury latest

There’s also bad news for fellow centre-back Liam Lindsay, but there is a more positive update on Devine.

Lindsay had to be taken off at Wrexham with a dead leg that ruled him out of Saturday’s draw with West Brom and he has not been able to train since.

Alexander said: “Linds hasn't [trained], as yet.

“So we're hopeful he can take part on training on Friday, potentially, I'm waiting to speak to Jacko [Matt Jackson, Head of Medicine] but apart from that everyone else that has been training is available.

On Lindsay’s injury, the manager added: “It was a dead leg but there's levels of dead leg, his legs are quite big and long, so it was a significant one.

“He came up against Kieffer Moore, so it was two big giants coming up against each other. Disappointing, really, because I thought he did really well in that game but unfortunately he's missed all the training since then.”

Devine, meanwhile, who missed some training last week and had to be substituted at half-time against WBA due to a calf problem, has been given the all clear and has trained all week.

“He went for a scan over the weekend, it was clear so he's been able to train every day this week,” Alexander added.

Captain Ali McCann still remains ‘over a month away’ after returning to the grass last week but Caleb Wiley is in contention to return to action this weekend. The Chelsea loanee was named on the bench on Saturday after more than a month on the side-lines but didn’t come on.

Alexander said: “JT [Jordan Thompson] is back from suspension, so he's trained all week. Caleb has had a full week up to this point. He had a broken week last week, full week this week.

“He [Wiley] was on the bench last week. He was in contention to be involved from the bench, I didn't think he was in a position to start. He missed a chunk of time.

“It was good to have him on the bench, so it was great he's trained the full week this week, so he'll definitely be involved with the squad.

“We're just trying to ascertain where his best position is for us, what his best attributes are for us and him getting up to speed because he's missed a few of our first weeks, so he’s got to understand what we expect.”

Preston’s away game at Stoke kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday.