Preston North End

The Lilywhites’ No.14 came off the bench to replace the injured Ben Davies in the Boxing Day clash with Hull City and with his team-mate set to be ruled out for the clash with Dean Smith’s side, he should continue at the heart of the PNE defence.

 

Since his summer arrival from Exeter City, Jordan has impressed when he has played and he admits that he is still learning with every experience, but it looking forward to this latest test.

 

“These sort of teams and games are what you want to play in,” he told iFollow PNE. “Villa are a massive team and it is another vital game for us during the Christmas period and I am looking forward to it.

“You always want to play against the best strikers and learn from them and it is another challenge that everyone is looking forward.

“Their quality shouldn’t dishearten us in any way. We are a good enough team to match them and the boys will be up to it, especially after the disappointing result on Boxing Day – we will be ready for the game.”

 

And the defender feels he is making good progress as he adapts to his first season in the Championship: “I feel I have progressed massively,” he continued. “The speed of the games was always going to be the biggest test, moving from League Two to the Championship, and I am learning something new every week and it has been really enjoyable.

 

“I knew when I joined I wouldn’t play every single game and I just had to bide my time, but you always have to be ready, especially with the amount of injuries we have had – you can never take your foot off it.

 

“The injury situation is crazy, but we just have to dig deep and keep trying to collect some points. We can still climb the table, but we need to pick up some points and we have to do that despite having players who are out injured.

 

“As a team we have to try and push on. We can’t let it get us down; we have to carry on fighting and hopefully our team spirit will show.”