Preston North End's divisional rivals could land 83-cap international, Blackburn chase ex-Bundesliga startlet

The Lilywhites head into the game with a point to prove, after suffering a disappointing 4-1 home defeat to Hull City on the opening day of the season.

Speaking after the dispiriting outing, Preston boss Frankie McAvoy said: “For some reason we went into a default mode and ended up in a back five in the first half.

“It looked from where I was standing as though we were a bit timid in allowing our wing-backs to release early and get our outside centre-backs out in one-versus-one situations.

“That had been something we had done a lot of work on, we used it well against Celtic in pre-season. That was disappointing and if we’d continued with that formation, I not sure we would have managed to get them up the pitch.”

He continued: “I thought changing it at half-time would give them a spark for the second half. For a time I thought we got that spark but goals change games and Hull got their second goal.

“That goal was a little bit unfortunate in that it got deflected, saying that we needed to be quicker closing it down. For the third goal, their striker got between our two centre-backs and nicked in to score.

“The fourth was extremely poor, we just stood and watched it. If I’m honest I thought Hull looked more hungry than us.”

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