Preston vs Fulham preview: Championship clash live on Sky Sports Football
Watch live on Sky Sports Football from 7pm on Tuesday; Kick-off is at 7.45pm
Tuesday 10 December 2019 17:24, UK
Preston face Fulham in the Sky Bet Championship on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Football.
Team news
Preston boss Alex Neil is hoping for more good news ahead of Tuesday night's home clash with Fulham. The Lilywhites slipped to a fourth successive Sky Bet Championship defeat at QPR on Saturday, but Neil was able to welcome back defender Andrew Hughes from a five-game absence, while club captain Tom Clarke, who has not played since August because of a foot injury, was an unused substitute.
Defenders Patrick Bauer, Ben Davies and Darnell Fisher are all closing in on returns as North End look to end a four-game losing streak. Veteran midfielder Paul Gallagher missed out at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium but is pushing for inclusion, while Daniel Johnson remains a doubt and Louis Moult and Josh Ginnelly are still out.
Fulham manager Scott Parker will check on striker Bobby Reid once again. The on-loan Cardiff frontman has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury and will hope his enforced exile is drawing to a close.
Parker was also without Harrison Reed, Harry Arter and Maxime Le Marchand for Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Bristol City and will keep his fingers crossed for better fortune this time around. The setback at the weekend ended a four-game winning streak and left the Cottagers in third place in the table, 10 points adrift of leaders West Brom and eight shy of second-placed Leeds.
Recent form
Preston are slipping down the Championship table at a rate of knots, having lost their last four games against QPR, West Brom, Hull and Derby. During that time, they've conceded eight but, worryingly, haven't scored one.
Fulham fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Bristol City last time out, but had been in superb form prior to that blip, knocking on the door of the automatic promotion places.
Latest highlights
Talking point: Parker's Cottagers picking up pace
During the 2017/18 season under Slavisa Jokanovic, Fulham laboured through the first half of the season and were slumped in 15th after 20 games. As we all know, the second half was a different story, as they went five months without defeat before promotion to the Premier League.
It is, of course, still too early to be making predictions in this division, but after 20 games of this season, they are nine points and 12 places better off in comparison with that campaign. It's a favourable headstart, if nothing else.
Opta stats
Preston are winless in seven league meetings with Fulham (W0 D3 L4), a run stretching back to December 2000.
Fulham's last three league visits to Preston have all ended 2-1 to the Cottagers, their best ever away winning run against the Lilywhites.
Having lost just three of their opening 16 Championship games this season, Preston have now lost their last four in a row, failing to score each time.
After a run of four straight league wins, Fulham lost their last Championship match against Bristol City at the weekend. They've not lost back-to-back games in a season at this level since November 2017.
No side has won more points at home in the Championship this season than Preston (23).
The Championship's leading scorer this season Aleksandar Mitrovic (15 goals) has netted 10 goals in his last 10 appearances for Fulham.
Prutton's prediction
The fortunes of these two are heading in separate directions at the moment and it's not looking great for Preston. They were right up there at the start, but are dropping away at pace and haven't been able to score for love or money over this last month.
When Fulham were promoted in 2018, they started to pick up pace in the latter half of the season, but Scott Parker's men look to be reaching similar levels already. Will it be enough to help them towards the automatic places?
David Prutton predicts: 2-2 (12/1 with Sky Bet)
