According to the stats, Preston and Blackpool will be meeting for the 90th time this Sunday and though the Lilywhites have not won on the soil of Bloomfield Road since Tony Ellis hit that famous hat-trick way back in October 1992, PNE still hold the upper-hand in all meetings winning almost half of all previous fixtures between the two clubs.

But historical form and even recent form will count for very litte in Sunday's encounter, it very rarely does. What will matter is who gets that stroke of luck, that bounce of the ball, that rub of the green, the games are often so tight that they can be decided by the finest of margins. Take last year's games between the two as an example, chances in the matches were few and far between with shots on target at a premium, the Deepdale affair was decided by a solitary penalty decision whilst Mellor was denied a spot-kick at the other end of the field.

Preston's trip into enemy territory last season was even more devoid of chances and perhaps unsurprisingly was the third consecutive 0-0 draw between the two teams at Bloomfield Road. The weather has often been singled out as a contributory factor for the poor football in recent times, but with strong winds and heavy downpours promised for Sunday it looks like the players will be battling the elements once again.

But it's up to the players to battle through those conditions, entertaining football won't be the priority, winning the match will be and fancy passing will be passed aside for grit and passion.

Whilst Preston boss Alan Irvine is close to having a full squad to choose from for this fixture, his Blackpool counterpart Simon Grayson has a few injury niggles to contend with. Danny Coid is a major doubt with a hamstring injury and David Vaughan will face a late fitness check on the calf injury he picked up against Ipswich last week. Strikers Stephen McPhee and Daniel Nardiello are both back in training but the best they can hope for is a place on the bench.

THE MANAGER - Simon Grayson
As a player Grayson will be best remembered for his five year spell with Leicester City, a period that saw him win a League Cup winners medal in the same season he was named the Foxes Player of the Year. The Yorkshireman's playing career continued on to Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers, he was rumoured to have considered a move to Preston North End before settling at Blackpool where he finished his playing days.

Appointed reserve team boss at Bloomfield Road by Colin Hendry, it wasn't long before Grayson was promoted to take charge of first team duties and he worked without a contract for two years before signing a more concrete agreement after getting the Tangerines promoted. His stock rose when he kept Blackpool in the Championship with some gritty displays and it was no surprise when he was linked with the oft vacant Leicester City manager's job.

But Grayson remains at Bloomfield Road for the time being and he is looking forward to what is sure to be another pulsating derby encounter this weekend.

"I can't wait for the game because as a manager and players you love the big occasions and in Lancashire they don't get much bigger than this one," Grayson told the Blackpool Gazette.

"They had a good start to the season, then had a bit of a blip, but they got a good result down at Norwich (2-2) last weekend. They have players coming back from injury and they have a decent squad.
"Obviously their players are aware of what we can do and they will be trying to get the three points off us.

"They will want to win as much as we do because it's a derby. They also want to get up the table, just like us. All the ingredients are there for a cracker and I just hope we can come out on top.

"If we play how we can do, then we have got every chance of doing that."

LAST MATCH - Blackpool 0 Ipswich 1 (Norris 41)
Though the Ipswich goalscorer was the player who grabbed the headlines, for all the wrong reasons, a third home defeat of the season will have been of more concern to Tangerines boss Simon Grayson.

In fairness it was a match that Grayson's side never looked likely to win. The home side were limited to just two chances, Rob Edwards missing a gilt-edged opportunity when he spurned a header in the opening minute of the game and then seven minutes before the end Gary Taylor-Fletcher rattled the woodwork when he got his head onto David Fox's clever ball.

But the home side lacked cohesion and probably put in their worst opening 45 minutes of the season, so it was no surprise when Jim Magilton's side notched just before the break. Claus Jorgenson managed to stop Gareth McAuley's header from crossing the line but the ball fell straight into the path of David Norris who slammed the ball home.

Blackpool: Rachubka, Barker, Evatt, Edwards, Camara, Taylor-Fletcher, Southern, Jorgensen, Vaughan, Burgess, Gow. Subs: Broomes, Hammill, Fox, Kabba, Gilks.
Ipswich: Richard Wright, David Wright, McAuley, Naylor, Garven, Norris, Lisbie, Walters, Volz, Quinn, Shumulikoski. Subs: Bruce, Miller, Counago, Stead, Supple.

LATEST NEWS - 'Derek Is A Good Bloke'
While there may be no love lost between the opposition sets of fans this weekend, the relationship between the Chairman of the respective clubs is a little more cordial.

Blackpool Chairman Karl Oyston has trouble winning over the support of his own fans, never mind the derision he receives from the fans of PNE, very few Chairman do gain respect from the terraces these days but Oyston believes that he and opposing counterpart Derek Shaw are of a different breed: "Derek, I think, of all the club chairman that I know, is one that would probably be far more comfortable sitting in the stands with all his mates having a pint watching the games, which is credit to him as far as I'm concerned.

"I think Derek is a good bloke and he has done extremely well since he took over at Preston. They are a good club, established in the Championship. He has finished the ground and he has done very good job.

"He has slightly different constraints and slightly different circumstances to what we have but I think on the whole he does a good job and doesn't deserve any of the stick that he sometimes gets."

Regardless of the stick that either Chairman receives, Oyston is adamant that his passion for these Lancashire derbies is unrelenting, even if it does come whilst he's he's sat with the prawn sandwich brigade.

"As chairman I get excited. It's difficult not to. I feel like telling the manager to feed the players on raw meat all week," the Tangerines Chairman said in this week's Blackpool Gazette.

"I don't know why that is. It's an illogical thing because it's just another game. But it isn't, if that makes sense. It's very, very important that we do OK. I absolutely understand the rivalry. I am probably the person with the fiercest tribal views you can get.

"I think anyone that thinks the prawn sandwich squad sit there and they are not bothered is entirely wrong. It's just as important, if not more so, to us than it is to everyone else. It's not to be under-estimated how strongly I feel about this game."