Preston North End injury blow emerges as forward reportedly set to miss Arsenal and Coventry City clashes

Preston North End striker Will Keane is going to be out injured for eight weeks, according to reports.

On his Patreon page, journalist Alan Nixon states that the 31-year-old has suffered a thigh tendon injury and will be out of action for a couple of months. Keane started the defeat at Millwall two weekends ago, but was absent from the win over Watford and last Saturday’s draw at Burnley.

The 31-year-old signed a new contract with PNE in late August, following transfer speculation with West Brom and other Championship clubs. One minor positive for Preston is that their next league fixture is in a fortnight, at home to Coventry City.

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However, if the lay-off is as long as reported for Keane, then he is going to miss the games against the Sky Blues, Norwich City, Plymouth Argyle, Arsenal, Bristol City, Sunderland, Portsmouth, Derby County and Stoke City - at least.

Manager Paul Heckingbottom, after the share of the spoils at Turf Moor, confirmed that Keane would be out for a ‘few weeks’ - with Nixon since reporting further details of the timescale. The timing for North End is not ideal, with fellow forward Milutin Osmajic having been banned for eight matches.

That leaves North End with Emil Riis and Layton Stewart as their striking options, with player-coach Ched Evans not currently fit. Stewart has made the first team bench a handful of times this season, but is yet to feature under Heckingbottom. Riis has one goal and one assist, in nine league appearances.

When asked about his forward options, Heckingbottom said last Saturday: “Sam (Greenwood) is back now, who we missed for three games. It has just coincided with Milly being out. That is another reason it made sense for Milly to play on the Wednesday night, to allow Emil to play 90. But, Milly deserved it. He has responded really well since we’ve come in.

“I’ve really liked working with him and have enjoyed what he has shown us on the pitch. Obviously, he needs to learn from what happened in the Blackburn game, because we all suffer for that now. But, in terms of the football and what we’ve seen working with him, we’ve really liked it.”