Blues boss Kieran McKenna is anticipating a tough game against a Preston North End side which has made an impressive start to the season at Deepdale on Saturday.
Town go into the match unbeaten in the Championship having drawn both their matches 1-1, at Birmingham on the opening weekend and at home to Southampton last Sunday.
The Lilywhites are also undefeated, drawing 1-1 at QPR on the opening day before beating Leicester City 2-1 last weekend. In between, they won 1-0 at Barrow in the Carabao Cup first round. They sit seventh in the early season table, two points and 10 places above the Blues.
"Preston have had a really good start,” McKenna said. "The result last week and also a really good performance as well against Leicester - it wasn’t an undeserved result. It was also a good result and performance away to QPR as well.
"They are a really experienced team with a really experienced manager [Paul Heckingbottom] in the division. Like all the teams, they have got threats and it is a really difficult place to go and play and get a good result. We know we are in for a challenging game on Saturday.”
Having played two of the division’s more fancied sides, the Blues might be expected to control the game against North End, who finished 20th in the division last season, avoiding relegation by one point.
"I don’t think they are going to go with any intent on Saturday to simply let us have the ball or us have a comfortable game,” the Town manager continued. "They are going to try and make it difficult, that’s for sure.
"Southampton were pretty direct on Sunday with two strikers, the back five and wing-backs and looking to cross the ball. There will be some similar things in there.
"They have a lot of size in the team - they are the biggest team that we will have faced. That means we will have to be at our very best in both boxes and at set plays.
"In the Birmingham game, we faced a very direct opponent where the ball spent a lot of time in the air. The season and the games are still trying to find their rhythm.
"We know the rhythm that Preston want to play at and are good at and it’s up to us to try and impose ourselves on the game away from home and make it the type of game we want.”
Preston were one of only five Championship teams to beat Town in their 2023/24 promotion campaign.
Then they were under Ryan Lowe’s management with Heckingbottom taking charge a year ago this week.
"Every manager puts their own stamp on it,” McKenna said when asked if they had changed much under the former Leeds, Sheffield United, Barnsley and Hibernian boss.
"I’m pretty sure when you go there as a Preston manager, there’s a type of football that supporters enjoy.
"I think Preston sides over the years in the Championship have been really hard to beat, been physical and robust, get the ball forward, try and cross the ball and get bodies in the box and be strong in the box.
"That’s been a pretty consistent strength of theirs. It was when we played them last time and I’m sure it will be the same now. You know you are going to be in for a tough game there and we expect one on Saturday.”
Having felt the team made progress from the Birmingham game during the Southampton match, McKenna will probably stick largely to the same side as last week, assuming the couple of issues he mentioned in his press conference don’t cause anyone to miss out.
Alex Palmer will be in goal with Ben Johnson probably the right-back although with Ashley Young perhaps ready to make his first league start for the club.
Skipper Dara O’Shea and Jacob Greaves should be the centre-halves and Leif Davis the left-back.
Azor Matusiwa and Jack Taylor will continue in midfield with Jens Cajuste unlikely to be ready to start, although almost certainly playing a part from the bench.
In the trio ahead of them, McKenna will have to pick between Chieo Ogbene and Jack Clarke on the right, the Irish international perhaps getting the nod, with Sammie Szmodics in the middle and Jaden Philogene on the left. George Hirst will continue as the central striker.
Chuba Akpom looks set to come into the squad for the first time and seems likely to make his debut as a substitute.
Ali Al-Hamadi joins Wes Burns (ACL), Conor Townsend (ACL) and Harry Clarke (knee) on the sidelines having injured his calf in training following the Bromley match.
Reflecting on his year in charge at Deepdale, Heckingbottom believes the club has moved forward in that time.
"It has gone quick, definitely,” he told his club’s official website. "It does fly when you’re working. The seasons roll into one, if you like.
"Are we in a better place? Yeah, I think so. We are in lots of ways, but there's lots of ways where we still want to improve and make sure we do better.
"So, for example, I’ve been really pleased with what we’ve done in the transfer market so far, but in my eyes, we’ve still got a lot more to do. You see that.
"Last year we had more bodies than we've got now. I think we need more numbers because we're behind on what we were last year.
"But you don't want to do that at the expense of quality. I think for me, the last few players we bring in need to be at a level where we can feel the improvement, we can feel the value. Not just collect them because we need an extra body. I’m pleased with the way things have gone so far this window but there's still more to do.”
Preston have a few injuries going into the game, among them former Town striker Will Keane, who is yet to feature this season due to a muscle problem.
Midfielder Jordan Thompson, signed this summer from Stoke having played for Blues boss McKenna in Manchester United’s academy, is out with a leg injury.
Veteran Irish international left-back Robbie Brady has a calf problem, while midfielder Brad Potts is also yet to appear this season due to a muscle injury.
Danish midfielder Mads Frøkjær missed the Leicester game with a groin issue but may be back for the Blues’ visit.
Forward Daniel Jebbison, who has signed on loan from AFC Bournemouth, could return having been out due to an ankle injury sustained during a private fitness session, much to his manager’s annoyance.
"I would like a couple of them back,” Heckingbottom admitted. "Obviously, say if you get to the Portsmouth game [next Saturday] and they’re touch and go then you’re taking a big risk when they’ve been out for so long.
"I think it’s always better to err on the side of caution and then give them that extra couple of weeks and train, when they’ve been muscle injuries in particular.
"But I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. Jebbo is not far away now, potentially this weekend, again without risking him. Mads is probably similar. They’re back and fit and ready when they are, there's nothing we can do about that.”
Reflecting on Town and comparing them to the Foxes, Heckingbottom said: "It’s difficult because I never want to say too much because if I’m really honest here now, people say I’m disrespectful towards certain teams and others, but Ipswich have got different strengths in my eyes.
"Things that we got away with against Leicester at the weekend, I don’t think we’ll get away with them against Ipswich and likewise things that we really had to focus on to stop against Leicester are less important against Ipswich in my eyes.
"I think we just have to focus on taking that tactical element into account. I think we just have to focus on ourselves and delivering the same intensity of performance, the same mentality and approach to the game. If we do that, I'm always happy with us anyway.”
Historically, the Lancastrians just have the edge, Town having won 13 games (12 in the league) between the sides while Preston have been victorious on 15 (13) occasions and 11 (10) matches have ended in draws.
The Blues have won at Deepdale only twice in the league since January 1966, both under Mick McCarthy, a 2-1 success in August 2015 and a 1-0 victory in February 2018.
The teams last met at Deepdale in February 2024 when Town dropped to fourth in the Championship following a topsy-turvy 3-2 defeat to North End in which returning striker Kieffer Moore netted twice having come on as a half-time sub.
The Blues found themselves 3-0 down at the break as two goals from former Town striker Keane on five and 39 sandwiched an eighth-minute George Edmundson own goal.
But after Moore, who had re-signed on loan from AFC Bournemouth two days earlier, had been introduced at the break, Town were a different prospect and the Wales international netted on 75 and 87, however, the Blues were unable to find the third goal which would have claimed a point.
The sides met at Portman Road in the preceding October when Town went into the international break second in the Championship following a 4-2 victory over third-placed Preston, who they then led by eight points.
Conor Chaplin gave the Blues the lead in the 18th minute, before Frøkjær levelled for the visitors nine minutes later.
Brandon Williams made it 2-1 with a brilliant solo goal and Nathan Broadhead netted a third in first-half injury time.
Town made a slow start to the second half and Lilywhites’ sub Ben Whiteman pulled a goal back on 52 but Kayden Jackson sealed Town’s ninth win of the season 12 minutes from time as all five subs combined.
Ex-Town striker Keane joined the Lilywhites in the summer of 2023 having spent a year and a half at Portman Road between January 2019 and May 2021, after initially joining on loan before signing a one-year deal.
The former Manchester United youngster made 28 starts and 13 substitute appearances, scoring nine goals.
Ex-Town keeper Dai Cornell joined Preston in June 2022 but has made only 14 starts and one sub appearance since then. The Welshman made 15 starts for the Blues in his only season at the club, 2020/21.
Saturday’s referee is Matthew Donohue, his assistants Andrew Fox and Jacob Graham and the fourth official Dale Baines.
Manchester-based Donohue has refereed one match this season, Leicester’s 2-1 opening-day win at home to Sheffield Wednesday in which he showed one red - to the Owls’ Barry Bannan - and one yellow card. Overall last season, he showed 109 yellow cards and eight red in 27 matches.
Donohue has refereed four previous Town matches, the most recent the 1-0 defeat to Norwich at Carrow Road in April 2024 when he booked only Axel Tuanzebe.
Three months earlier, he was the man in the middle for the 3-1 FA Cup victory at AFC Wimbledon in which he red-carded Wombles midfielder Harry Pell for a second bookable offence and also cautioned Tuanzebe, Edmundson, Marcus Harness and one other Dons player.
He was also in charge of the 3-0 home victory over Hull City in October 2023 in which he - unusually judging by his overall stats - kept his cards in his pocket throughout.
Prior to that, Donohue refereed the 1-1 draw at Morecambe in February 2022 in which he booked only Macauley Bonne and Tyreeq Bakinson.
Last season, he took charge of five Preston matches and sent off Lilywhites players in three of them. Sam Greenwood, who was on loan from Leeds, against Blackburn Rovers, Liam Lindsay at QPR and former keeper Freddie Woodman, now with Liverpool, against Stoke.
Palmer, Walton, Button, Johnson, Young, Davis, O’Shea (c), Woolfenden, Greaves, Kipre, Matusiwa, Cajuste, Taylor, Humphreys, Barbrook, J Clarke, Ogbene, Szmodics, Chaplin, Philogene, Hirst, Akpom.