Why Jordan Thompson is missing for Preston North End vs West Brom
The Preston starting XI for today’s match with West Brom has been confirmed.
Graham Alexander has made three changes to his Preston North End starting XI for the Championship fixture against West Brom, with Jordan Thompson not involved.
Preston are in dire need of three points after three defeats in three under new manager Alexander already seeing them get cut adrift in the relegation zone.
The games don’t get any easier, though, with West Brom visiting Deepdale on Saturday off the back of two impressive comeback victories.
Things have been made even tougher for North End as they are without several key players for the match.
Lewis Gibson remains unavailable after pulling out of last weekend’s defeat at Wrexham on the morning of the game, with the full extent of his injury not yet known.
Fellow centre-back Liam Lindsay also hasn’t made the match after being forced off with a dead leg in Wales.
In a further blow, stand-in captain Thompson is suspended for the match after he picked up his fifth booking of the season at Wrexham. His ban had initially gone under the radar as a late yellow he was given at QPR was not registered by many data collection websites.
Brad Potts has come in for his for his first start of the season in place of Thompson. Mills has replaced the injured Lindsay, with Odel Offiah moving in the back three, and Delano Burgzorg has replaced Callum Lang.
Andrew Hughes is captain, and Caleb Wiley is back on the bench after being out for well over a month.
Ali McCann remains side lined, though the captain did return to training on Friday after his hamstring injury.
It appears Alexander has stuck with his 3-4-3 formation and his picked a team containing: Iversen; Offiah, Storey, Hughes; Mills, Potts, Leroy, Vukcevic; Burgzorg, Devine, Kenny.
The substitute bench is: Nicholls, Valentin, Erabi, Lang, Small, Wiley, Moran, Nolan, Irwin.
West Brom’s starting XI reads: O’Leary, Pereira, Mepham, Campbell, Styles, Whitwell, Molumby, Diakite, Price, Horn Myhre, Stewart.
Their bench is: Ingram, Phillips, Townsend, Crowther, Zingoula, Bany, Tunde, Morgan, Heggebo.
Kick-off at Deepdale is 3pm and Elliot Bell is the referee.