It’s the first ever league cup meeting between Preston North End and Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday night at Deepdale.

The Seagulls become the 71st different side the Lilywhites have faced in the competition; others we have met include Barrow, Workington, Aldershot, Scarborough, Chester and Kidderminster.

This will be our 174th game in the competition and our 83rd at home. At Deepdale, we have won 42, drawn 22 and lost 18. We are looking for our 250th goal in the competition, reaching 249 at Pride Park with Daniel Johnson’s match-winning penalty

This is the 21st time we have reached the third round; we have reached the fourth round five times, most recently in 2016/17, whilst our leader goalscorers in the League Cup with eight goals each are Alex Bruce, Jon Macken and Peter Thompson.

We beat Peterborough United 4-1 in our first ever match in 1961 and that remained our record win until we beat Morecambe 5-1 in 2009. The following year, we won 5-0 at Stockport County in Bailey Wright's debut match, however, beating that feat against a Premier League side might be quite an achievement!

Match Information
Competition: Carabao Cup Third Round
Date: Wednesday 23rd September, kick-off 7pm
Venue: Deepdale
Kit: 2020/21 home kit – click here to buy it now!
Head To Head: PNE wins – 13; Draws – 12; Brighton & Hove Albion - 7

Team News
Louis Moult, Josh Earl and Daniel Johnson are all ruled out of Wednesday night’s third round tie with Brighton & Hove Albion, whilst Paul Huntington is suspended after picking up yellow cards in each of the first two rounds.

This means that manager Alex Neil will not be able to make as many changes as he did in the previous round, when only Alan Browne survived from the opening day clash with Swansea City.

Six players then retained their spot for the weekend’s game with Norwich City at Carrow Road and again players who did not play on Saturday could be given a chance, including Jayden Stockley, who had to pull out of the game with the Canaries just hours before kick-off, but has subsequently been given the all-clear to return to training and match action.

Seagulls boss Graham Potter also made changes – 11 of them in fact – for their 4-0 second round win over Portsmouth at the AMEX Stadium.

Forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh inpressed with a superb strike in a man of the match performance in an experienced line-up that included familiar names such as Dan Burn, Dale Stephens and Jayson Molumby amongst others.

Match Officials
Steve Martin takes the whistle for Wednesday night’s game – his first PNE match of the season, having officiated four of them in 2019/20.

His last game was the win over Birmingham City in the final home game of the last season. He was also the match official for our opening day game down at Millwall, the 1-0 victory over Birmingham at St Andrews and the 3-2 comeback victory over Blackburn Rovers.

Steve also had whistle for the Millwall away game in 2018/19, when Alex Neil’s men came out 3-1 winners, back in February 2019 at The Den. That was one of the match official’s three games officiating North End that season, the others being PNE’s wins at Nottingham Forest and at home to Ipswich Town – that visit to PR1 being back in April 2019, when we ran out 4-0 winners.

Since coming onto the EFL lists back in 2012/13, the Staffordshire referee has officiated many North End games, at least one a season for all the years he has been on the league groupings.

His first game was a goalless draw against Leyton Orient back in March 2013, whilst other memorable games include our 3-0 win at Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup in 2014, a 3-0 home win over Cardiff City in 2016 and a 3-1 win at Oldham’s Boundary Park in 2014.

This is his second game of the season, having officiated Friday night’s ‘home’ win for Coventry City over Queens Park Rangers in front of the Sky Sports cameras. He will be assisted by Nik Barnard and James Wilson and the fourth official will be Nick Greenwood, who ran the line at Norwich City at the weekend.

Match Coverage
North End fans can watch Wednesday’s game live on the Carabao Cup Live website, with purchases of a £10 match pass available now.

Click here now for details of how to sign up for a match pass

Linked Stories
Alex Neil Expecting Competitive Clash: Preston North End manager Alex Neil and Brighton & Hove Albion assistant head coach Billy Reid go way back. Click here for the full interview.

A Match To Remember: The Lilywhites and the Seagulls have never met in the League Cup before, so we go back 15 years to a league encounter to look back on a memorable clash on a special day. Click here for the details.

Rafferty Looking Forward To Premier League Test In Carabao Cup: Joe Rafferty says he and his teammates are looking forward to testing themselves against a Premier League side on Wednesday evening as PNE face Brighton and Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup. Click here for Raff’s thoughts.

A Foot In Both Camps: Brighton & Hove Albion - Former Preston North End defender Mark Lawrenson has an extra interest in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie as PNE go head-to-head against another of his former sides. Click here to see what he had to say.