Preston North End will welcome Queens Park Rangers to Deepdale this weekend as the two sides battle it out for a spot in the playoffs with the North East side moving into sixth after one of their best results of the season last time out.
It’s been a sensational season for PNE so far. Their campaign started off with them conceding just two goals in the first eight outings, scoring only four of their own.
🗞️ Get ready for our return to Deepdale with our match preview. 👇#pnefc— Preston North End FC (@pnefc) December 15, 2022
🗞️ Get ready for our return to Deepdale with our match preview. 👇#pnefc
It was one of the lowest goals difference records in recent history at that stage in the season, and Preston have since gone on to move up into sixth in the table and put down their marker on the playoff spots.
Last time out, the club smashed Lancashire rivals, Blackburn Rovers. Not only was this their biggest statement yet of the season, it was also on the road and Preston's biggest goals difference win of the season, as Ben Woodburn scored alongside a goal from Ben Whiteman, while Ched Evans also netted twice throughout the 4-1 win.
That win was the first game of the past month for Championship sides, because of the World Cup break. Millwall ended up beating them 4-2 at Deepdale just prior to the break, although Preston did put together a three-game winning run just before that.
The Deepdale faithful now see their side two points above seventh-placed Millwall and behind Watford in fifth by only goals difference. In fact, Preston even sit two points behind Blackburn after that stunning win.
As for QPR, it's been a struggle for them in the past few months and they have now moved down into ninth. QPR have actually failed to win a game for almost three months when you take into account the recent break for the World Cup.
Losing to Birmingham City, West Brom, Huddersfield, Coventry and most recently, Burnley. They also drew with Norwich City this time and the last victory came against Wigan Athletic back in mid-October.
The London side have won the same amount of games as Preston with nine each, but in conceding 27 times, they have the third-worst defensive record in the top 12 after Swansea City and Reading. At the same time, they have scored 26 goals of their own, which is four more than PNE.
Forebet predicts a win here for Preston as QPR's run of form is too poor to consider a victory. Forebet also predicts the game to see over 2.5 goals.