Preston travel to the Capital to face Crystal Palace on Easter Monday following two successive home draws against Queens Park Rangers and Watford.

The Lilywhites will be looking to clinch the all important three points to ease relegation worries by getting to the 52 point mark most managers consider to be the safe zone.

North End are have only lost three in their last ten fixtures but have only clocked up two wins in that time against play-off hopefuls Nottingham Forest and Cardiff.

That means that Preston have racked up five draws and all of which saw opportunities for the Whites to go away with maximum points.

Looking up the table and Preston could jump up a maximum of six places with a win if results go in favour of the Whites and despite the play-offs being practically over North End sit only 11 points away from sixth place.

Crystal Palace versus Preston North End
Coca-Cola Championship
Saturday 5th April 2010
Selhurst Park

Gaffer's Views
Darren Ferguson: "Keith Treacy did well when he came on on Saturday and with Ross suspended, he'll probably get his chance on Monday. We're obviously missing a lot of wide players, with Sedge injured and Danny Mayor still out as well, so I will not have a natural player and I may have to look at playing a different way, but I'll watch the stuff we have on Palace on the coach on the way down and decide after that.

"There are some players that I feel can't play two games in two days, so there will be changes; some I have to make and some I will make, because I feel we need some freshness into the team.

"Palace have gone to Middlesbrough on Saturday and the geographics aren't great, but we just have to get on with it. It is about the character now that gets us through, we can have all the ability in the world, but we need to dig in, stick at it and get over the line."

The Opposition
Palace, under new boss Paul Hart, are currently sitting third from bottom in the Championship table on 43 points, seven points behind North End in 17th.

The London club should be home and dry by now but following the deduction of 10 points the eagles have found themselves plunged into a relegation battle.

Palace were deducted the points back in January for falling into administration and plunged from ninth to 21st in the league table.

Following all the trouble the Championship outfit were then hit with the blow of Neil Warnock's departure to QPR so Paul Hart has been brought to the helm to run proceedings.

Palace also lost the services of striker Victor Moses in the last transfer market to Premier League Wigan Athletic but still have danger man Darren Ambrose who has bagged 18 for the Eagles so far thisa campaign.

On Saturday Palace got a superb away point at Middlesbrough, where North End were robbed a couple of weeks ago after the best first half display of the season.

The away draw at The Riverside means the Londoners will go into the game with an extreme amount of confidence looking to grab a win that could ease their relegation dog-fight.  



Opposition Manager
"We were good value for the point, we set ourselves out to be hard to beat and we set up with Monday in mind.

"I was delighted with the display. I thought our luck was out at first when we hit the post but we stuck at it, we've defended well and Julian (Speroni) has made some good saves and we got something. And we deserved it."

"It is difficult preparing for two games in three days because we have such a small squad. I have rested a few of the players today and I set out to maybe get a point here and try to take advantage of the home games coming up.

"It can be a massive week for us. I am confident we can stay up if we can keep playing with the spirit we have showed in the last few games."
Paul Hart talked to the Palace official website following their 1-1 away draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Opposition Player
"I have been in this position before with Southampton and the main thing is not to panic. I think everyone around the club needs to be patient and not panic because we still have seven games to go and the players know we can get the job done.

"I think the main objective is to win our home games and when we go away we must try to nick points here and there, and I think we can do that with the players we have. It has been an unbelievable season for this club and for us to keep this club is going to be an achievement.

"We tend to play really well against the teams in the top half of the table for some reasons. I don't know if that is a mental thing but we do tend to play better...[we] have just got to go out there and get the fans behind us and get the three points we need.

"The last manager never gave me my chance because I came in pre-season, started the first game and then dislocated my elbow.

"I think I still have plenty to offer Crystal Palace with my experience. I have been in this league for a while and I know its ins and outs. The manager came in and told me that everyone was going to get their chance.

"I have been patient and I have been getting a chance here and there and I am relishing the opportunity now ,and hopefully I can take my chance and show the Crystal Palace fans what I can do."
Stern John spoke to the Crystal Palace website prior to the weekends doudle header.



Head-to-Head
PNE's all time record against Palace W13 D12 L16
PNE's away record against Palace W4 D4 L13

Last Meeting
Preston North End 1-1 Crystal Palace
(Wallace 35, Ambrose 37)
Saturday 31st October 2009
Coca-Cola Championship
Deepdale

PNEBetting.com Odds
Preston 9/4 Draw 9/4 Palace 11/10
PNEBetting.com Selected Bet
Sean St. Ledger to score first and Preston to win 2-0, 240/1

PNE Player
Monday's game will be brought to you all the way from the capital by Matt Hardman. Team news will be made available at around 2pm and the show will start at 2.30pm.

Any Other Business?
The highest scoring game between Palace and North End produced five goals in which PNE came out 4-1 victors on 6^th December 2003 with goals coming from Dickson Etuhu, Graham Alexander, David Healy and Eddie Lewis. The most frequent score between the two sides is 2-0 with both teams coming out even with five wins each.