PNE sit 12th in the Champonship with 11 games left to play

Preston North End suffered defeat at home to Millwall last weekend as they entered the final dozen games of the campaign.

The Lilywhites, on January 4 after victory at Bristol City, sat fourth in the division. Since then, PNE have endured a run of five league defeats, three draws and one win - scoring only five goals in the process.

It is North End’s 11th consecutive campaign in the Championship and the feeling come full time on Saturday will have been an all too familiar one for fans. More often than not, the Deepdale club has struggled during the final stretch of seasons.

Last year was the only time PNE were in any danger of relegation. Survival was ensured on the final day at Bristol City, with a 20th placed finish comfortably the lowest, since promotion in 2015.

Regardless of where Preston end up this season, another poor run of results at the business end of the season would be damaging. In the last four full campaigns, the Lilywhites have averaged 1.06 points per game across their final 12 fixtures.

They have picked up 51 points from those 48 games, scoring 54 goals and conceding 72. Ryan Lowe managed two-and-a-half of those seasons, with Heckingbottom one and Frankie McAvoy one half.

For the last three years, Preston haven’t won any of their last five matches, with 13 games lost and 35 goals shipped. It is something the players are firmly aware of, with Jordan Storey and Ben Whiteman having spoken on it recently.

After drawing with Watford, Storey said: “We've been close a couple of times in the last few seasons, where we sort of blew up in the last five, six games. If you look, at least at one of those seasons, we had so many injuries.

“I think that did have a big impact. With all the lads coming back, it's a massive positive for us. We just need to keep them all fit to give ourselves the best chance. The last three years, off the top of my head, I don't think we've even won a game in the last five.

“So, it's something that we definitely want to get right this year. I think we're in the best possible chance of getting to the play-offs since I've been here. So, yeah, we'll be definitely looking at the final five games.”

In the last decade, only two seasons have been finished well by PNE. One of those was the behind-closed-doors campaign of 2020/21, when interim boss Frankie McAvoy oversaw five wins, two draws and one loss - albeit a heavy 0-5 one to Brentford.

Alex Neil’s first full season, in 2017/18, saw Preston win four and draw one of their last five fixtures, but fall agonisingly short of the play-offs and finish seventh. The 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2018/19 conclusions were poor.

In 15/16, PNE won one of their last seven games with three draws. The year after, it was five defeats from the last six with one draw. Neil’s second campaign saw Preston lose six of their final eight games, with one win.