Ben Whiteman is expecting a tough game against promotion-pushing West Brom, but he’s confident PNE can find ways to exploit the Baggies.
North End head to The Hawthorns on Wednesday evening for an 8pm kick-off, coming up against Valerien Ismael’s side who sit fifth in the table.
Their form of late has been slightly indifferent, with three Championship victories in their last 11 games, but they come in to the game on the back of a 3-0 win against Peterborough United.
Speaking to iFollow PNE, Ben said: “It’s always going to be a tough test with the players they’ve got.
“Where they’ve been in the last ten years is in the Premier League and top half of the Championship, so it’s going to be a tough game.
“They’ve got a great squad and a certain way of playing, and we’ve got to stand up to that and match that and come Wednesday night hopefully we can do that.”
The game against West Brom comes in the middle of a busy fixture schedule, with games falling on the weekend and midweek until the middle of February.
“It’s just about rest and recovery,” said Ben, about preparation for games. “It’s about playing a game and then resting, and recovering straight after that.
“There’s not really much on the training field you can do, we watch a lot of videos on the opposition and the way they play.
“But like I’ve said before it’s mainly about what we do and how we can exploit them.”
Former Doncaster Rovers captain Ben has been a regular feature for North End this season, more recently playing in midfield alongside Alan Browne and Daniel Johnson.
The latter will be unavailable for the next three fixtures, though, given his involvement in Jamaica’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Ben added: “DJ’s done outstanding since he’s been in that role; we know what a good player DJ is.
“But we’ve got a squad so someone else can now step into DJ’s shoes and do just as well as he does.
“I’ve no doubt we’ve definitely got that in the squad. We’ve got a really talented squad and whoever comes in I’m sure they’ll do very well.”