Preston North End v Blackpool: Tickets, team news, Sky Sports coverage, referee

The game is being played on what would have been Sir Tom Finney’s 100th birthday and PNE fans will honour him by passing a giant surfer flag carrying an image of the football legend across the Alan Kelly Town End before kick-off.

North End supporters raised £6,000 to produce that flag and another surfer flag which has the Preston skyline – with Deepdale at the heart of it – in the design.

It is the first meeting between the clubs at Deepdale since August 2013 when North End won 1-0 in the League Cup, Tom Clarke writing his name into PNE folklore with the late winner.

The last league clash on Preston turf was back in February 2010, a game which ended in a goalless draw. Blackpool won the reverse fixture 2-0 at Bloomfield Road in October.

Tickets:

The game will attract PNE’s highest Championship crowd of the season, beating the 18,092 attendance for the visit of Derby County in October.

If you’ve not got your tickets yet, be quick. Tickets go off sale at 5pm on Monday (April 4) and there will be NO sales on the day of the game.

The Bill Shankly Kop will house both PNE and Blackpool fans, with a segregation area down the middle.

Match Coverage:

The game is being shown live on Sky Sports but surely you want to be there if you can?

It is on Sky Sports Main Event, with the coverage starting at 7.30pm ahead of the 7.45pm kick-off.

Team news:

PNE will be without central defender Liam Lindsay who starts a two-match suspension for his red card at Derby.

Greg Cunningham is available after a calf injury, while Bambo Diaby is back in training after illness.

Ched Evans took a knock on the foot against Derby but should be okay.

Tom Barkhuizen remains sidelines as he recovers from a calf injury.

Referee:

County Durham official David Webb is the man with the whistle at Deepdale.

Mr Webb has refereed PNE twice this season, their 2-1 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in November and the 2-2 Deepdale draw with Sheffield United in January.

Against the Blades he sent-off Andrew Hughes in the first half for bringing down Rhian Brewster.

This will be his 31st game of the season, in the 30 so far he he has shown 103 yellow cards and three red.

James Wilson and Andrew Fox will run the line, with John Busby the fourth official.

League position:

PNE and Blackpool head into the game with little to separate them in the Championship table.

The Seasiders are in 14th place, one point and a position ahead of North End.

The managers:

Ryan Lowe and Neil Critchley are well known to one another. PNE boss Lowe was a player at Crewe Alexandra when Blackpool manager Critchley was on the coaching staff there.

It was Frankie McAvoy in charge of North End when they lost at Bloomfield Road in the autumn.

PNE manager Ryan Lowe explains formation change at Derby County