Preston North End boss will use international break to learn lessons from recent matches

The Lilywhites do not play again until a week on Saturday when Derby visit Deepdale.

They have just finished a run of seven games in 21 days, a sequence which was dominated by draws.

McAvoy’s men drew five of their Championship games and lost the other at Queens Park Rangers last Saturday.

Their one victory came in the Carabao Cup, beating Cheltenham Town 4-1 to set up a fourth-round clash with Liverpool.

PNE head coach McAvoy said: “At this time of the season you get games close together.

“We’ve just played seven in three weeks, every midweek.

“Now we’ve got the break and then you’re bang at it again, with another sequence of matches.

“This is probably a good time to have a breather and we’ll use it wisely.

“We will sit down, look at what we have been doing well and the areas where we can improve and move forward.

“The main thing is to learn from that and kick on ready for when we come back to play the next game.

“In training we will be able to look at a few different things and different options.

“We’ve got Tom Barkhuizen back, we can look at Josh Murphy more, there’s Scotty Sinclair back now.

“This season we’ve not played with two wingers, that for example is something to look at in training.

“There will be time for the players to get a bit of rest, get themselves ready for the next run of matches – there are some big ones ahead.”

Of pressing concern for McAvoy in the first stage of the break are the medical updates on three of his squad.

Ali McCann, Patrick Bauer and Sean Maguire were all injured at QPR.

McCann and Maguire have been sent for scans on their ankle and hamstring injuries respectively.

Bauer’s issue was a deadleg which should not be much of a concern.

McCann hurt his ankle in a block tackle with QPR striker Andre Gray.

Anything involving the hamstring area with Maguire is always a concern.

The injury on Saturday came from a QPR player standing on his leg, which has caused an issue.

Meanwhile, North End have sold out their 2,200-ticket allocation for the derby with Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on October 23.

The last tickets were sold yesterday lunchtime, with them having been initially on sale to ambassadors and then to season card holders with 280 or more loyalty points.

PNE are hoping to beam back the game to Deepdale.