Preston North End make their first visit to Cardiff City's new stadium hoping that the change of venue will bring them a change of luck in south Wales.

Alan Irvine's North End have had just one victory in their last six visits to Cardiff, a 1-0 win way back in November 2004. But they can take heart from the fact that three of their last six results in the Welsh capital have ended in 2-2 draws.

The Lilywhites will travel to Cardiff's new stadium expecting some sort of a backlash. Not only because they inflicted a soul destroying 6-0 defeat on the Bluebirds earlier this year - one which ultimately decided the Play-Off fate of both clubs - but also because Dave Jones' side have lost their last three games.

Irvine will be hopeful that their improved performances of the last two games will finally get the desired result. They more than matched Newcastle before falling to Kevin Nolan's strike and then muscled up to Blackpool in Monday night's derby.

A good result in the principality could set Irvine's men up nicely for their two home games on the bounce against Derby and Plymouth next week.

Cardiff City v Preston North End
Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday 5th December 3pm
Cardiff City Stadium

Gaffer's Team News
"We've no more injuries. Liam Chilvers was in Thursday morning and he will have a runaround and we will see if he joins us for training in the rest of the week. Hopefully he is ok and he will be available to travel with us.

"I think he will be ok. The position he plays you probably get away with it a bit more. If he was a central midfield player or a wide player then you are expecting him to cover a lot more ground. As a centre-half you don't have to cover as much ground.

"Eddie Nolan came in and he did well and any player that comes into the team and does well has got a chance of keeping their place. We knew when we signed Eddie that he could play all the way across the back four, we knew that as a young player he was playing most of his games at centre-half and that would probably be his chosen position. He got the opportunity to play for us at left-back and took that very well and there was no reason for us to change things. If you watch us training every day, Eddie automatically slots in at left-back, so he sees himself as that kind of position at this time.

"He's a versatile player, he's an adaptable player and for a small squad that is vitally important.

"Paul Parry will be desperate to play and he's very much in our thoughts. It was a real shame for him because he was playing really well and then he pulled his hamstring and that set him back."

The Opposition
Last weekend's 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich Town was big blow for Dave Jones' side coming off the back of two away defeats.

And things haven't got much better in the week with the local media questioning the Cardiff City players' desire, questioning the quality of their players and even questioning the abilities of manager Dave Jones.

Clearly the Bluebirds are rattled, so much so that the Club's Chairman Peter Ridsdale came out fighting with a strongly worded statement which directly criticised some elements of the Cardiff media.

If a siege mentality now exists at the Cardiff City Stadium then North End will have to be on their guard.

Opposition Gaffer
"It is not an excuse for anybody to use what is going on off the pitch. Anyone who does wants shooting.

"At the moment everything around the football club is bad news. But when you lose football matches it is nothing to do with what is going on off the pitch.

"It is nothing to do with what people write about you and what is supposed to be happening.

"It is about players going out in the second half and not doing their jobs."
Dave Jones speaking after last weekend's home defeat to Ipswich.

Opposition Player
"It's definitely still in my mind. They beat us very convincingly at the back end of last season when we had been in the play-off positions all through and then dropped out of the race.

"You know we want to put that right. We've lost three on the trot, but if we go on a strong run towards the end of the season like Preston did last year, the current situation will be all in the past. We all need to pull together in the right direction.

"We all care deeply, no-one hates losing more than the players. We all believe we're winners, and we always want to win. That's why you get into football at a young age - because you want to be a winner and achieve things.

"I can understand the fans' frustrations but we are every bit as frustrated as they are. We were booed off against Ipswich last Sunday and that's not a nice feeling. I felt we played well in the first half but in the second half we were well below our highest standards."
Jay Bothroyd tells cardiffcityfc.co.uk he is determined to set the record straight.

Head-to-Head
PNE's all time record against Cardiff W32 D20 L30
PNE's all time league record against Cardiff W32 D20 L30

Last Meeting
Preston North End 6 Cardiff City 0
(Mellor 17, 41, Parkin 51, Kennedy (og) 54, Brown 75, Williamson 86)
Saturday 18th April 2009
Coca-Cola Championship
Deepdale

PNEBetting.com Odds
Cardiff 4/5 Draw 12/5 Preston 7/2
PNEBetting.com Selected Bet
Neil Mellor to score first in a 2-2 draw - 85/1

PNE Player
Jonathan Breeze will be joined by Steve Cowell for a full match commentary of Saturday's match on PNE Player. Sign-up now and you get a free Preston North End replica shirt.

Any other business
Did you know that Cardiff boss Dave Jones played 62 games for the Lilywhites during the mid-1980s?