Preston look to spoil Sheffield Wednesday’s late play-off surge
2027
Preston North End’s 2-0 defeat away at Wigan Athletic on Easter Monday put the final nail in Preston’s fading hopes of a top six finish as Saturday’s hosts now trail 6th placed Derby County by seven points with just two matches remaining of their season.
After an impressive sequence of results for Preston North End from mid-January through to mid-March, which saw Alex Neil’s side put together an impressive and promising 12-match run without defeat in the Championship, Preston have since imploded in dramatic fashion.
Five defeats from their last six matches well and truly saw their play-off hopes sailing out the window as the hosts suffered losses against Reading, Sheffield United, Leeds United, West Brom and Wigan Athletic.
Preston’s only highlight during this wretched sequence of results was a 4-0 romp over Ipswich Town at Deepdale, but this victory ended up being too little too late for the Lancashire outfit.
Form at their Deepdale ground though had been fairly consistent throughout the season until they came up against Sheffield United and Leeds United who dished out back-to-back defeats, but nevertheless, Preston still possess serious goal threats as well as conceding goals too.
14 of their 22 home matches have seen both teams score.
Sheffield Wednesday are still in with a shout of reaching the play-offs following their 2-0 home win against play-off hopefuls, Bristol City which has left The Owls just four points adrift of Derby County with just two matches remaining for Wednesday.
Derby do have a game in hand but if Sheffield Wednesday can grab another win at Deepdale against Preston North End this Saturday, that would really amp the pressure up on Frank Lampard’s side.
With just two defeats out of their last 18 matches overall in the Championship, it would be foolish to write off The Owls ahead of this weekend’s action, and they’ve also shown they can get results on the road too in recent times.
Wins at Ipswich Town and Bolton Wanderers were sort of expected but Steve Bruce’s side also picked up points against Championship leaders, Norwich City and play-off candidates Derby County on their travels which is a vast improvement upon their form earlier in the season.
Wednesday possess midfielder Bannan (4 goals) who is capable of hitting absolute screamers from outside the box, along with forwards Fletcher (11 goals), Joao (10 goals) and Matias (6 goals).
This is Preston’s last home match of the season and they’ll be keen to sign off with a win while Sheffield Wednesday need all three points here. Both teams to score looks to be on the cards.
Home team
Away team
Pred
Correct score
Avg. goals
Weather conditions
Coef.
Score
Live
coef.
CH
313633
X
1 - 1
2.49
8°-9°
3.40
2.65
3.40
2.72
-1
1
-1
3 - 3(2 - 0)
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