Preston v Sheffield United Preview

Posted on | January 30, 2009 | No Comments

Both of these two sides are coming off the back of shock defeats with Preston being on the end of a 4-1 thumping to Swansea in their last outing, while Doncaster unexpectedly went home with a 1-0 win at Bramall Lane on Tuesday. With the two sat right next to each other in the table, it’ll be interesting to see who responds the better and who further cements their play off ambitions.

Alan Irvine must be delighted with the way things are going in his first full season in management as after a difficult start, Preston are starting to exceed expectations and currently sit in 6^th position. The Lilywhites had a long spell where they struggled for points at the start of the season but since then, they’ve moved from strength to strength. That information makes Tuesday’s heavy defeat to Swansea even more bizarre, as up until then Irvine’s men looked confident and well worthy of their current top six position. However, the Swans absolutely ran riot that night and after such a defeat, it remains to be seen how the Lilywhites will respond. Before that, they’d recorded a 3-1 win over table topping Wolves and a 2-1 victory over local rivals Burnley, so Irvine will be hoping Tuesday was just a blip and normal service can be resumed this weekend.

It’s a similar story for Sheffield United, who suffered a result that simply no-one could have expected midweek as well. The Blades may have been up against an in-form Doncaster side, but their superiority on paper made people believe that a home win would be nothing but a formality. As it turns out, not only did Doncaster take all three points, yet they did it in style and outplayed Sheffield United for long periods. You had to look way back to the start of December before United had lost before that, so the defeat will have hurt Kevin Blackwell and he’ll know how important it is to bounce back record a win over their fellow play off contenders this weekend.

As for team news, Alan Irvine will have to cast a late eye over Callum Davidson and Ross Wallace who are both struggling with injuries. However, he will have the luxury of being able to select Chris Sedgwick who returns after completing a suspension. There’s not much to report on the Sheffield United front although Kevin Blackwell may give Nick Montgomery and Gary Naysmith late fitness tests as the duo are struggling with hamstring and ankle problems respectively.

Despite their heavy defeat to Swansea, we think Preston could come out on top in this one. The Lilywhites are a physical and well organized pack and this could really frustrate the visitors. We’ll go for a scrappy 1-0 home win.

Related posts:

1. Sheffield United v Preston Preview
2. Preston v Sheffield United Preview
3. Blackpool v Preston Preview
4. Bristol City v Preston Preview
5. Preston v Plymouth Preview

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