This Week's Opposition: Preston North End

Kirsty Roxanne investigates the key names and numbers behind Portsmouth's next challenge in the Championship.

Due to a waterlogged pitch on Tuesday night, the match against Ipswich at Fratton was postponed for the second time this calendar year.

Matchday 29 now sees the Blues make the trip to Deepdale to take on Preston North End.

MANAGER

Paul Heckingbottom is in the dugout for The Lilywhites.

After retiring as a player, Heckingbottom trained as a coach. He started out with Barnsley’s development squad and after a successful spell as caretaker manager, in which the club won promotion from League One and the EFL Trophy, he was appointed permanently in 2016.

Heckingbottom has also managed Leeds United, Hibernian and Sheffield United, whom he guided to the Premier League as Championship runners-up in the 2022/23 season.

He was appointed as manager of Preston in August 2024 and last term, his side finished 20th in the table, surviving relegation by 1 point on the final day of the season. Heckingbottom has overseen 84 matches at the helm with 27 of those being victories.

ONE TO WATCH

Our one to watch is Tottenham loanee Alfie Devine.

An England Youth International who joined the youth system at Tottenham Hotspur from Wigan Athletic in July 2020, making his senior debut for Spurs the following January.

Devine had enjoyed loan spells at Port Vale, Plymouth Argyle and Belgian side Westerlo before joining Preston this season on a season-long loan.

The 21-year-old scored on his debut for the club in a 2-1 victory over Leicester City at home and since then he has gone to net 5 goals, recording also 2 assists.

TOP SCORER

Top goalscorer for The Lilywhites is Lewis Dobbin.

A product of the Everton academy system, Dobbin had a loan spell with Derby County before being picked up by Aston Villa.

Last season, Dobbin spent the first half of the campaign with West Bromwich Albion before being recalled by his parent club and loaned back out to Norwich City for the remainder of the campaign.

So far in his loan spell at Deepdale the number 17 has 6 goals and 5 assists.

CURRENT FORM

Preston are currently in the top half of the Championship table, occupying 9th place with 44 points.

However from their last 5 fixtures, they have only managed to pick up 1 point following a draw with 4 defeats, which includes a 1-0 loss to League One side Wigan Athletic in The FA Cup.

During this recent run, The Lilywhites have also only netted 1 goal.

Can the Blues keep up their own decent run of recent form and continue to push up the Championship table?

Tune in to Pompey Live on Express FM this Saturday (February 7th) afternoon from 2pm for full coverage of Preston North End vs Portsmouth LIVE from Deepdale - Jake Smith, David Howes and Danny Thompson will be presenting pre-match build-up, half-time analysis and post-game reaction with live commentary via Tom Murray and Danny Rose.

Kick-off: 3:01pm!