Another busy weekend of Championship football get under way on Friday night when play-off hopefuls Preston North End go into their home clash with high expectations of picking up all three points against struggling Queens Park Rangers.
The Deepdale faithful will be hoping for a strong performance from their team, who are looking to bounce back after suffering back-to-back defeats against Cardiff and Middlesbrough in the past week.
North End played most of the second half with two men against the Welsh side and looked to have got out of jail before two injury-time goals.
Queens Park Rangers claimed a rare win on Tuesday night as they benefited from an Enda Stevens red card which led to Stoke throwing away a 2-1 lead.
That victory ended a dismal sequence in which the R's were winless in 12, scored six goals and put in a number of lifeless performances.
Preston's poor home form in recent weeks doesn't make it any harder to back them in our opinion as Ryan Lowe's side have faced a number of promotion contenders.
Their record of five wins in nine has been compiled by beating the teams at the bottom of the table and although the R's aren't bottom, they look part of an unsaveable three.
The biggest issue for the visitors is the lack of chances created. Marti Cifuentes has inherited a team who have created nine big chances in the Championship.
How does that compare? Well, the next worst record belongs to Rotherham who have created 15. Even rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday have produced 18.
Rangers fans will no doubt tell you they expect better from their side but as bad as they've been, they've actually overperformed against their xG tally of 14.
Lowe's side don't have a problem scoring but they're guilty of being too open having shipped 27 goals during a 13-game run without a clean sheet.
Despite that, North End have still bagged four wins and three draws. Goals win games and the hosts will see this as a perfect opportunity to get back on track.
Suggested bets
- Preston North End to win
- Both teams to score
- Over 2.5 goals
