Preston North End v Birmingham City - Match Preview
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Preston North End extended their unbeaten run to 11 matches in the Championship during the week when they recorded a valuable 2-1 win away at Middlesbrough which became back-to-back wins on the road following their 1-0 win away at Blackburn Rovers last weekend.
Preston return to Deepdale this Saturday to play host to Birmingham City, and the hosts will fancy their chances of maintaining their unbeaten run against a Birmingham outfit who have lost their last three league matches on the trot.
The hosts may not be guaranteed of all three points here though despite being unbeaten in their last six matches on home soil, as five of these matches have ended in stalemates with draws against Aston Villa, Swansea City, Derby County, Nottingham Forest and Bristol City.
Preston have managed just one win during this sequence which was a 3-1 home win against Championship league leaders, Norwich City, so the hosts need to continue to be respected here.
The hosts are also very capable of scoring goals with the likes of midfielders Browne (11 goals), Johnson and Gallagher (6 goals apiece) along with forward Robinson (9 goals), and they’ll be hard to shift at Deepdale. Midfielder Barkhuizen is out injured for the hosts.
Birmingham City slumped to a third defeat on the trot when they suffered a 2-0 loss at home to Millwall during the week which followed defeats to Hull City and their bitter west midlands rivals, Aston Villa, and they face a tough trip to Preston this Saturday.
The Blues have now slipped down to a mid-table position of 12th in the Championship, and each defeat that passes could mean an even greater impact upon the club as they still await their punishment from the Football League for an infringement of the financial fair play laws.
If Birmingham are handed a points deduction, which seems a possible outcome at this stage, then Garry Monk’s side could be dumped right into the relegation battle at the bottom of the Championship.
The visitors therefore have every reason to pull their socks up and put a shift in at Deepdale, and with Maghoma and Jota returning from being rested in midweek and a fit again Jutkiewicz (10 goals) up front with leading goalscorer Adams (21 goals), Birmingham will give it a good go here.
Preston have actually performed better away from Deepdale in recent weeks while Birmingham have to get a result here and stop the rot. This could end up a draw.
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