Two-up-front strategy is a big part of Frankie McAvoy’s plan at Preston North End

Frankie McAvoy says putting two players up front was very much a starting point for him in getting Preston North End travelling in the right direction in the Championship.
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The interim head coach has played Emil Riis and Ched Evans in both of his games in charge, in a 4-1-3-2 against Norwich and then a 3-5-2 at Swansea

In the win over Swansea especially, having two strikers helped PNE establish more of a presence up front.

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McAvoy acknowledges though, that he wants more from the attack in the games to come, starting with the Deepdale clash with Brentford tomorrow (3pm).

Emil Riis has been part of a two-man attackEmil Riis has been part of a two-man attack
Emil Riis has been part of a two-man attack

That responsibility he puts both on himself in terms of setting the team up and the players supporting the strikers from midfield and wide areas.

McAvoy said: “I thought what we needed to do was create more goalscoring opportunities, that was the biggest thing for us as a staff.

“We have got a group of forward players who are capable of doing well.

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“The best opportunity for us to score goals is probably to get a good two up front.

“As well as Emil and Ched, we’ve got Sean Maguire, Scotty Sinclair, Anthony Gordon, Tom Barkhuizen.

“Louis Moult is coming back into the fold, so there are a lot of options.

“We have got a lot of good front players, let’s try and get the best two who we can work with and then look at the attacking options we have got behind them.

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“I went very aggressive against Norwich with Scotty, Daniel Johnson and Barky behind the front two.

“So we sort of went with five really attacking players.

“At Swansea we got the balance a bit better, we looked a threat.

“I thought the wing-backs were key to that, both of them did well.”

Tomorrow McAvoy will have Alan Browne available to him for the first time since stepping into the top job.

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Browne has completed a three-match suspension for his red card at Middlesbrough last month.

Whether the Republic of Ireland international goes straight back into the starting XI, remains to be seen.

Those who started the win at Swansea will justifiably be looking to start again.

Said McAvoy: “Alan will come in as part of the squad.

“We will look at putting the right team on the pitch to give us the best chance of getting a positive result against Brentford.

“Alan won’t be short of match practice because he played for Ireland, while he’s trained well with us.”

McAvoy will assess the fitness of Gordon, Johnson and Maguire who missed the Swansea game.

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