Preview: Preston North End vs. Millwall - prediction, team news, lineups

At a time when the home side remain in third place in the standings, the visitors are down in 15th position and without a permanent manager after the departure of Gary Rowett.

Match preview

On the back of a six-match winning run earlier in the season, Ryan Lowe would have had high hopes of his side sitting pretty in the automatic promotion spots come the international break.

However, Preston have since lost three matches in succession, conceding 11 goals in the process with two of their opponents being direct rivals for the top two.

Having suffered 4-0 and 3-0 defeats to West Bromwich Albion and Leicester City, Preston showed more quality and fight in their away fixture at second-placed Ipswich Town.

The end result was the same, though, with the Tractor Boys eventually prevailing by a 4-2 scoreline despite Preston getting back to 1-1 and 3-2 at different points in the match.

Lowe will feel that the international break came at the right time, yet the pressure is growing on Preston to get back to winning ways with just three points separating them to 10th position.

Meanwhile, Millwall appear to be in a state of disarray after the club opted to part ways with Rowett by mutual consent earlier this week.

Millwall had collected four points from matches with Plymouth Argyle and Hull City before the international break, while they had suffered just one defeat in five outings.

Nevertheless, a decision has been made for the two parties to go their separate ways, with assistant manager Adam Barrett taking charge of this fixture.

Although there is an assumption that a replacement must be lined up given the timing, Barrett must focus on the short term with Millwall in a position to catapult themselves into the promotion mix with a win at the weekend.

Preston North End Championship form:

W

W

D

L

L

L

Millwall Championship form:

L

W

D

L

W

D

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Team News

Lowe will hope to have Andrew Hughes and Jack Whatmough back in contention after injuries sustained before the international break, but Ali McCann remains sidelined.

Ben Whiteman, Duane Holmes and Liam Millar will all expect to feature for Preston after being rotated for the Ipswich game.

Will Keane is an option to replace Milutin Osmajic down the centre of the attack.

Despite the dismissal of Rowett, Barrett may opt to select a similar Millwall XI to the one from the Hull fixture.

Brooke Norton-Cuffy is in contention to return at right-back, while George Saville is an alternative to Allan Campbell in the centre of the pitch.

Tom Bradshaw is expected to feature in attack, though, courtesy of an injury picked up by Kevin Nisbet.

Preston North End possible starting lineup:

Woodman; Bauer, Lindsay, Cunningham; Potts, Whiteman, Ledson, Millar; Holmes, Frokjaer-Jensen; Keane

Millwall possible starting lineup:

Bialkowski; Norton-Cuffy, Harding, Cooper, Bryan; Leonard, De Norre; Campbell, Flemming, Watmore; Bradshaw

We say: Preston North End 1-1 Millwall

With Preston's surprise downturn in form and a shock Millwall exit for Rowett, there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding this fixture. It leaves us having to predict a low-scoring draw between two evenly-matched sides on paper, a result that both teams would probably accept.

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