Darren Ferguson has described Saturday's game against Watford as a 'Cup Final' on his latest edition of PNE Player and the significance of a win over the Hornets will be one of relief as the Lilywhites aim to get over the points threshold which would secure their Championship future for another year.

Ferguson's men are currently on 49 points, seven points clear of third bottom Crystal Palace, a team who North End have to tackle on Easter Monday. A win would lift PNE to 52 points, a benchmark many experts reckon would be enough to be safe.

Preston's last two performances, a 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough and a 2-2 draw at home to QPR last week, have shown encouraging signs that the Lilywhites have what it takes to avoid slipping in to a relegation dogfight. North End should have had QPR dead and buried last weekend but suffered a case of the jitters and it was Deepdale deja vu as the game finished 2-2 for the second home game in succession.

North End will be keen to put one over on Malky Mackay's Hornets, the Hertfordshire club defeated the Lilywhites in a one-sided affair at Vicarage Road in early November. Tom Cleverley was Preston's tormentor that afternoon, the Manchester loanee has been linked with a move to PNE earlier this week, but that story was shot down by Preston boss Darren Ferguson who reckons Cleverley is good enough to be challenging for the Manchester United first team next season.

Preston North End versus Watford
Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday 3rd April 2010
Deepdale

Gaffer's Views
"Everyone is fit, touch wood, amazingly so. I've had 23 players train this morning [Thursday], Paul Parry is the only one who hasn't trained.

"I'm really delighted about that, everyone is back and we are going to need everyone over the next two games in such a short space of time.

"We've just got to concentrate on the game. We've done a bit of work on Watford and I know that if we are at it then we will give them a game.

"I've spoke in terms if it being a bit of a cup final for us and I think we have got to go in with that kind of mentality. It's a big, big game for us and we know if we can get that win then it will move us up the table, which we need to do."

The Opposition
When North End tackled the Hornets at the start of November last year Malky Mackay's side were on an upward spiral reaching a highpoint of sixth position one month after beating Preston.

But the league table doesn't make such happy viewing for Watford fans anymore. The midweek defeat to relegation rivals Crystal Palace continued an abysmal run of form which has seen them win just one match in their last ten. A shocking slump which has seen Mackay's men fall ten places in the table.

The Hornets are now only one point off of the relegation zone and the financial worries of earlier in the season are now hugely overshadowed by the very real prospect of relegation to League One.

Mackay is in his first full season of Football League management and he will have learnt much from this experience. The Scotsman, a former Scotland international centre-half has relied heavily on loan signings this season, Arsenal's Henri Lansbury and Manchester United's Tom Cleverley were the darlings of Vicrage Road earlier in the campaign but it remains to be seen if they have the experience to cope with a relegation scrap.

Tricky wingman Cleverley has grabbed 11 goals for Watford this season, with Danny Graham and Heidur Helguson also weighing in with a fair share of goals.

It's Watford's away form which has been the Club's Achilles heel, winning just three on the road all season, though one of those victories was an impressive 4-2 win at Forest in the opening weeks of the season.

Opposition Manager
"We had enough chances to win two games, but you have to be clinical, take your chances at one end and defend at the other.

"We had total domination of the first half, but went to sleep once. When you're not clinical, and don't punish teams when you're on top, you're going to have problems.

"I don't want this club to fail. We have to make sure we fight and scrap for every last point."
Watford boss Malky Mackay speaking after the club's midweek defeat to Crystal Palace.

Opposition Player
"We were pleased with the pressure we put them under in the first half, it's an old cliche but when you are down there it just doesn't go for you sometimes.

"We had one cleared off the line, we hit the bar, but we need to turn domination into goals really.

"Away from home we have not been too good of late but to go there and dominate like we did in the first half against a top six side, it should give us confidence."
Watford's in-demand Manchester United loanee speaking after last week's defeat at Cardiff City.