Preston North End are sitting in 14th place with 19 games played, after being unable to maintain good consistency so far this season.

Frankie McAvoy's side have been in decent form as of late, with three wins and two losses in their last five games.

They picked up a valuable three points last time out with a 2-1 win at Middlesbrough, with goals from Ched Evans and Emil Riis Jakobsen.

Fulham are the current league leaders, and have their sights firmly set on another promotion to the Premier League.

They are unbeaten in their last eight, with seven wins and just one draw in that time.

Their last game produced that solitary stalemate, with strugglers Derby County holding them to a 0-0 at Craven Cottage.

  • Team news

Preston North End

Matthew Olosunde is in line to make the matchday squad after suffering numerous setbacks this season, meaning he is yet to make his debut for the club.

North End will be without backup goalkeeper Declan Rudd after he underwent a minor knee surgery a few weeks ago.

Josh Murphy, Izzy Brown and Connor Wickham remain long-term absentees for the Lilywhites.

Fulham

Marco Silva has numerous doubts for the trip to Lancashire,  including Championship top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic who was absent from their draw to Derby in midweek.

Mitrovic and Tom Cairney are both suffering from illness and remain doubtful.

The Cottagers also may be without Harry Wilson, Harrison Reed, Antonee Robinson and Bobby De Cordova-Reid - after they all picked up a similar non-Covid related illness after the midweek game.

Marek Rodak will be available after he missed out against Derby due to Covid protocols.

Terence Kongolo (knee), Nathaniel Chalobah (hamstring) and Ivan Cavaleiro (groin) are still sidelined.

  • Predicted lineups

Preston North End (3-5-2)

Iversen; van den Berg, Bauer, Hughes; Barkhuizen, Whiteman, McCann, Browne, Earl; Evans, Riis.

Fulham (4-2-3-1)

Rodak; Bryan, Ream, Adarabioyo, Tete; Onomah, Seri; Kebano, Carvalho, Knockaert; Muniz.

  • Ones to watch

Emil Riis Jakobsen

Jakobsen is a quick, explosive striker who looks to run at defences and shoot on sight. The former Danish U21 international was originally on Derby County's books, but returned to his homeland to join boyhood club Randers in 2018 and then came back to England with Preston in the summer of 2020.

Embed from Getty Images

The Dane has netted 12 goals in 23 games in all competitions this season, with eight coming in the Championship. The Lilywhites will pin their hopes on him netting against what is a strong Fulham backline, after he netted the winner against Middlesbrough in midweek.

Fabio Carvalho

19 year-old Carvalho has been with the Cottagers since 2014, and burst onto the scene at the end of last season after scoring against Southampton on his first Premier League start. The teenage prospect was born in Portugal, but has represented England at numerous youth levels.

Embed from Getty Images

Carvalho has attracted the attention of some of Europe's elite this season, and is widely regarded as the biggest young talent in the EFL with four goals and one assist in nine league games so far. He was awarded with the EFL Young Player of the Month award for August for his exploits.

  • Previous meetings

Fulham ran out 2-0 winners the last time these sides met in February 2020, courtesy of Aboubakar Kamara and a David Nugent own goal.

Preston have won just two of their last 13 league games against Fulham, although they did win their last home game against the Whites in December 2019.

The overall record between the two is 25 Preston wins, 12 draws and 31 Fulham wins.

  • How to watch

The game kicks off at 12:30 GMT on Saturday, November 27.

It is available to watch on Sky Sports Main Event, with coverage beginning at 12:00.

VAVEL Logo
About the author