Preston North End v Swansea City likely line-ups, key men, the referee, odds and all you need to know ahead of Championship clash

From the likely line-ups to key men and the referee, all you need to need to know can be found below.

Likely line-ups

PNE: Rudd, Clarke, Huntington, Storey, Hughes, Pearson, Johnson, Potts, Browne, Barkhuizen, Nmecha

Swansea: Mulder, Naughton, van der Hoorn, Rodon, Roberts, Fer, Grimes, Dyer, Celina, Routledge, McBurnie

Key men

Ben Pearson: The midfielder is back with a point to prove according to his manager. A key player despite his disciplinary issues, he will be tasked with putting the brakes on a Swansea side who have continued their recent tradition of passing football.

Oli McBurnie: Scotland international has been given the chance to establish himself as Swansea’s main man up top up season and is doing just that. Has 10 goals this season including two in 4-1 win at Reading last time out in the Championship.

In the visiting dugout

Graham Potter: The 43-year-old landed the Swansea City job in June after making his name in the coaching world with Swedish club Ostersund. Potter guided them to three successive promotions, reaching the Swedish top flight. Last season they played in the Europa League, getting through the qualifying rounds and finishing second in their group. In the knock out stages, Ostersund met Arsenal and bowed out 4-2 on aggregate. As a player, Potter turned out for a number of English clubs.

The referee

Keith Stroud: The Hampshire official is in charge of Preston’s clash with Swansea City.This will be his first visit to Deepdale since February 2016 when he refereed PNE’s 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Last season, Mr Stroud took charge of North End’s away wins at Birmingham City and Burton Albion. This campaign, he has taken charge of 15 matches, showing 51 yellow cards and one red. He was in charge of West Brom’s 1-0 win over Wigan in the FA Cup.

Odds

PNE: 7/5

Draw: 5/2

Swansea: 2/1

This week in PNE history

55 years ago: On January 11, 1964, North End beat Southampton 2-1 at Deepdale. Alec Ashworth and Alex Dawson were on target in front of a 18,453 crowd.

44 years ago: Preston won 3-1 against Wrexham at Deepdale on January 11 1975. Tony Morley, Mike Elwiss and Mel Holden got the goals for Bobby Chalrton’s side.

32 years ago: On January 10, 1987, Preston won 1-0 against Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park in the third round of the FA Cup. Ronnie Hildersley scored the winner with a shot from 25 yards.

21 years ago: A 3-1 home defeat for North End at the hands of Gillingham on January 10, 1998, proved to be the end for Gary Peters as PNE boss. David Moyes took over two days later.