Preston North End Vs Crystal Palace Preview
Coca-Cola Championship Saturday 31st October 2009
Despite the late equaliser against Middlesbrough on Saturday, North End now find themselves out of the playoff places and into 8th. The draw also means that North End are without a win at home since mid September, spanning back 5 matches.
Alan Irvine’s men have a chance to resurrect their winning form before the turn of the month, though, and rid themselves of any skeletons in their closet against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Palace travel to Deepdale on the back of a 3 game winless streak and have just two wins on the road to their name this term.
Recent Form
Preston: WLDLWD
Crystal Palace: WDWDLD
Previous Meetings
Palace’s last visit to Deepdale was back in August 2008 where Neil Warnock’s side went down to a 2-0 defeat. Midfield duo Barry Nicholson and Richard Chaplow netted for North End on 58 and 91 minutes respectively to give the Lilywhites a well earned victory.
However, despite taking the lead, when North End were on the receiving end of two goals conceded when they visited South London. Saturday’s goal hero Billy Jones put North End one up that afternoon at Selhurst Park only to see Anthony Stokes and Neill Danns turn the game on its head in a manic 3 minutes heading into the interval.
In total, the Lilywhites have gone toe-to-toe with Palace on no fewer than 40 occasions. Palace have a 3 win advantage over North End with 16 wins compared to Preston’s 13. However, Palace have only conjured up 3 wins at Deepdale.
Palace’s last six visits to Deepdale:
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2008/2009 |
Sat 16 Aug |
Preston N.E. |
2 - 0 |
Crystal Palace |
Championship |
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2007/2008 |
Sat 01 Mar |
Preston N.E. |
0 - 1 |
Crystal Palace |
Championship |
|
2006/2007 |
Sat 25 Nov |
Preston N.E. |
0 - 0 |
Crystal Palace |
Championship |
|
2005/2006 |
Tue 31 Jan |
Preston N.E. |
2 - 0 |
Crystal Palace |
F.A. Cup |
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Sat 28 Jan |
Preston N.E. |
1 - 1 |
Crystal Palace |
Championship |
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2003/2004 |
Sat 06 Dec |
Preston N.E. |
4 - 1 |
Crystal Palace |
League Division One |
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2002/2003 |
Sat 10 Aug |
Preston N.E. |
1 - 2 |
Crystal Palace |
League Division One |
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Team News
With North End’s only current injured list containing Callum Davidson (hamstring) and Barry Nicholson (broken leg), a team not to dissimilar to that that lined up against Middlesbrough is expected to feature on Saturday.
Palace will be without defender Clint Hill after picking up his 5th yellow card of the campaign. Striker Calvin Andrews made his comeback from his Anterior Cruciate Ligimant (ACL) injury on Monday afternoon, managing 30 minutes in a reserve game but is not ready for a first team return.