Preston North End manager says his side go into Sunderland full of confidence

PNE are looking for their first win in three and also looking for their fourth league goal of the season.

The Lilywhites’ faithful will be travelling in their numbers to the Stadium of Light, with their initial allocation sold out and over 2,500 tickets sold so far.

Tony Mowbray’s side are fifth in the league table, the former Blackburn Rovers boss carrying on from where his predecessor and ex-PNE boss Alex Neil left off.

“We're going to a tough place to go that everyone knows, whoever goes to Sunderland, they're the teams you want to go to,” Lowe said.

"In the Championship, there will probably be 30,000 and 2,500 of ours that will make a lot of noise. They're the games you want to be going to.

"They're a good team, they have a fantastic manager that has been there, seen it, done it. They've had a change but it's about what we can do. We go there full of confidence and belief that we can get a result, I'm sure we can.”

Despite a big crowd expected for the game it is business as usual for PNE manager Ryan Lowe who returns to the touchline following a two match ban.

He’s hoping they can use the large attendance to their advantage and can give the home crowd something to get frustrated about but he knows his side must be at their best.

Lowe said: “It's no different for me, I'm just on the touchline. For the players, I think sometimes you can go to a place like Sudnerland and know that the pressure isn't really on us, it's on them.

"Their fans will be screaming at their team to try and get points. Sometimes the Sunderland fans are a very vocal lot, they can get in amongst the players.

"They do get behind them but there are times that they go the other way. We've got to perform to the best of our abilities to get a result, that's certainly what we'll be doing.

"Forget the crowd, it's two teams on a pitch, 11v11 trying to take points off each other.”