Preston North End head to the City Ground on Saturday afternoon in search of a third successive Championship victory.
Match Information
Venue: City Ground
Date: Saturday 6th November, 3pm kick-off
Competition: EFL Sky Bet Championship (Matchday 17/46)
Kit: Home kit – available to order here!
Supporter Information
Tickets for this fixture are now off sale, but any uncollected tickets can be picked up from the Brian Clough Stand ticket office at the City Ground from 1pm on Saturday.
Nottingham Forest have also confirmed there will be no sales made on the day of the game.
Match Coverage
For those not making the journey, audio commentary on iFollow PNE will be available for fans all around the world for a £2.50 audio match pass, or a £4.49 monthly pass. Subscribe here.
Due to this game being chosen for international coverage, there will be no iFollow video stream to supporters in certain locations overseas, and fans are advised to check their local TV listings to see if they can watch the game.
There will be coverage of the match all across our social media channels – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – as usual, as well as right here on PNE.Com where we will be providing live updates via our match centre.
PNE Team News
Having jarred his knee in the warm up against AFC Bournemouth, and having to be replaced on the bench by Mathew Hudson, Declan Rudd will be assessed ahead of the trip to Nottingham.
Frankie McAvoy is not expecting to have anybody available who wasn’t for the Bournemouth victory, with Matthew Olosunde and Ched Evans not back until after the international break.
Josh Murphy, Izzy Brown and Connor Wickham also remain sidelined.
The Opposition
Following a worrying start to their campaign, a change of management seems to have turned Nottingham Forest’s fortunes.
Chris Hughton was the man in charge at the beginning of the season, but after taking a point from their opening seven games of the campaign, he was dismissed.
Now in charge at the City Ground is former Swansea City head coach Steve Cooper, and Forest enjoyed an immediate bounce after his arrival, winning four consecutive games after a draw in his first match.
Key Stats
Still a worry for Forest, though, may be their home form, given that they have picked up just five points from a possible 24 playing in front of their own supporters.
They have also not had the best of times playing in this particular fixture in recent history, with North End taking all three points from the City Ground in three of the last four meetings.
One of Forest’s dangermen – and their top scorer so far this season with six goals – is Lewis Grabban, who played under Frankie McAvoy while both were at Norwich City.
Our Last Meeting
PNE signed off their 2020/21 Championship campaign with a 2-1 victory at the City Ground.
The hosts went ahead 17 minutes in as Manchester United loanee James Garner found the net with a 30-yard effort, but the Lilywhites turned the game on its head in the second half.
Tom Bayliss scored his first goal for the club to draw the visitors level on the end of Scott Sinclair’s cross, before Liam Lindsay sealed the three points on Gentry Day.
Man In The Middle
There will be a man well-versed in the Premier League taking charge of Saturday’s fixture, with Simon Hooper our referee.
Hooper has refereed 35 games in the English top flight, the most recent of those being Leicester City’s victory away at Brentford in October.
It’s been a long time since he was the main official for a PNE game; that was back in March 2018 as Fulham won 2-1 at Deepdale.
Pre-Match Interviews
Frankie Expects Forest
To Be Well-Drilled Browney Praises
Away Following