Ryan Lowe cites Arsenal amid 'physical' Preston North End narrative from managers

Press conferences from opposition managers, ahead of facing Preston North End, are becoming rather predictable at the moment.

The Lilywhites have earned praise in recent weeks, amid improved form which has seen PNE put themselves back in play-off contention. Steven Schumacher, Mark Robins, Russell Martin and Liam Rosenior have all shared their thoughts on Preston in recent weeks. There has been plenty of credit given to Ryan Lowe's side.

But, there is always one word you can expect to be uttered: 'physical'. And 'aggressive' won't be too far behind, either. Intensity is certainly a key trait to any strong PNE performance, but with attacking players Emil Riis, Will Keane, Mads Frokjaer and Liam Millar all mainstays in the team lately - what does boss Lowe make of the North End narrative?

"I don't want them to be a nice team," said Lowe. "I want them to be a horrible team and an ugly team but yeah, a lot of people are forgetting the footballing side of things as well. But look, it doesn't matter to me what anyone else thinks; it's about what we think. It is nice when you get some good compliments, of course, about what we're doing and how we're doing it.

"It's only natural to feel that, but we give the lads the compliments and the pats on the back when they need them. I look at Arsenal and Arsenal are the most dogged, horrible, nastiest team you will probably play against in the Premier League - but they have also got some brilliance in there and good quality. It's just finding a way to win and be ugly and nasty. We've got that in our group, because I have said many times that they see a chance (this season) and have a feel of 'Okay, why not?'.

"If we can keep pushing them and leading them to be big, strong, nasty and horrible on a football pitch - in the right manner, by the way... I'm not saying for them to go out and kick people. But, you've got to go out, believe and want to be better than the opposition. Sometimes, there are better players than you but you've got to have that real heart and desire, to match the physical and aggressive side. It's making sure you come off that pitch having given everything and that is what our lads do."