Derby County slumped to a third away defeat on the trot in the Championship prior to the international break in the east midlands derby at Nottingham Forest in a 1-0 loss which resulted in Saturday’s hosts dropping down to 16th place on the Championship ladder.
To make matters worse, their most recent defeat was to arch-rivals Nottingham Forest and this damaging loss followed earlier back-to-back defeats on the road at Charlton Athletic and Hull City respectively, but the hosts do have a decent chance at redeeming themselves at Pride Park this Saturday when they take on Preston North End.
Despite their poor results away from home, Philip Cocu’s side have been fairly stable and consistent on home turf as they’ve suffered just 1 defeat out of their 8 matches to date at home this season which was earlier in the campaign with a 2-1 loss to Bristol City.
The Rams have since embarked upon a 6-match unbeaten sequence in the Championship at Pride Park which includes winning their last 4 on the trot with victories over Birmingham City, Luton Town, Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough - all of whom, incidentally, occupy the bottom half of the division.
Onto Preston North End, and the visitors would have emitted a collective sigh of relief at least for the time being as manager, Alex Neil, ruled himself out of the Stoke City job and his loyalty was immediately repaid when his Preston side collected a third win on the trot in the Championship before the break with a resounding 3-1 home win over a rejuvenated Huddersfield Town outfit.
Earlier wins over Blackburn Rovers 3-2 at home and a 1-0 win away at The Valley against Charlton Athletic have maintained Preston’s interest and indeed claims for an automatic promotion spot, but there’s still a long way to go yet.
Nevertheless, if anyone had offered manager Alex Neil 2nd place in the Championship towards the end of November he’d have no doubt taken that, and having suffered just 1 defeat out of their last 13 matches overall in the second tier, Preston also stand a decent chance of getting something from their trip to Pride Park this Saturday.
Although Preston’s results away from home started in disastrous fashion at the beginning of this campaign as they suffered back-to-back defeats at Millwall and Swansea City, the visitors have since tightened up and have lost just 1 of their subsequent 5 matches on their travels along with picking up wins at Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic.
Preston certainly possess the greater consistency of the two clubs and the visitors may worth be backing with the draw no bet (AH0) option in this clash.