Liam Lindsay is looking to stamp his authority down on a defensive slot in the starting XI ahead of the new campaign.
The 26-year-old has spent most of pre-season playing in the centre of the back three when he’s been involved, and could get more minutes there at Deepdale on Saturday against Leicester City.
With the friendly against the Foxes being the last before the Championship season kicks off, he is hoping to use it as a final chance to impress to make sure he’s on the teamsheet for the Championship opener against Wigan Athletic next Saturday.
He told iFollow PNE: “Everyone wants to play, that’s part of the job.
“You want to force your way into the starting line-up, that’s how I look at it as well.
“But obviously there’s other people that want my place and vice versa, so that’s what we look for. Leicester’s just another game to kind of stamp your authority on it.”
Leicester will arrive at Deepdale on the back of a season which saw them narrowly miss out on a place in Europe, finishing eighth in the Premier League.
They’ll bring a strong side to PR1 for the 3pm kick-off, but Liam feels he and his teammates should be heading into the game confident of taking a result.
On the opposition, he said: “That’s where we’re aspiring to be, in the top league.
“It’s good to test yourselves against top, top players so it’ll be a good contest and there should be a bit of confidence flowing in the squad that we can give them a right good game.”
Now coming to the end of pre-season, Liam admitted that he is now itching to get the new campaign underway.
The former Barnsley man has also felt the benefit of having spent so much time on the training pitch in what has been the first pre-season spent working with Ryan Lowe and Mike Marsh.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” he added. “Obviously it’s their first pre-season.
“They’ve worked us hard to be fair and they had their ideas when they came, but they’ve had more time now to work on it and I think we’re getting to grips with it.
“Games have come thick and fast really, like the season is going to be, so it’s been a good test and I think we’ve done well so far.”
You can watch Liam’s full interview for free above on iFollow PNE.