Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa's praise for Preston North End's style of play

The Argentinian has enjoyed mixed fortunes against the Lilywhites as he has guided the Elland Road club to the summit of the early Championship table.

Alex Neil’s men inflicted a first defeat on Bielsa in English football when knocking his side out of the League Cup at the end of August.

But Leeds’ revenge was swift as they were 3-0 winners when the teams met in the league three weeks later.

Despite PNE being bottom of the Championship ahead of hosting Wigan at Deepdale on Saturday, Bielsa has been impressed with what he’s seen.

“You have teams like Middlesbrough who are very strong in the aerial game and with the 50-50 balls,” said the 63-year-old former Argentina, Chile, Athletic Bilbao and Marseille boss.

“You are sometimes afraid of them.

“Then you have teams like Derby County who have other features linked to a different offensive way of playing.

“There’s a style I like a lot, Preston’s style, and they are in the lower part of the table.

“But when results become the only argument, opinion doesn’t matter anymore.

“If you evaluate the results a team produces as an exclusive argument, we would not need press conferences any more because we would have no subjects to talk about.

“Preston and Brentford have a similar style with young players and attractive football but they have different results.”