Preston v West Brom preview
Friday 28 September 2018 12:51, UK
Preston defender Darnell Fisher is set to return to action in Saturday's Sky Bet Championship clash with West Brom at Deepdale.
Fisher missed the Carabao Cup match against Middlesbrough on Tuesday due to suspension. Calum Woods and Michael Crowe are close to being available after their injuries.
Sean Maguire, who is yet to feature this season because of a hamstring problem, is still a few weeks away from being ready for the first team squad, and Billy Bodin (knee) remains sidelined.
A host of players are poised to come back into the West Brom starting line-up after dropping out for Albion's cup game on Tuesday. Baggies boss Darren Moore made 10 changes for the home clash with Crystal Palace.
That contest, which ended in a 3-0 defeat, saw fit-again midfielder James Morrison complete the full duration as he made his first appearance since August. Third-placed West Brom go into the match against rock-bottom Preston having won five of their last seven league games.
Opta stats
This is the first meeting between Preston and West Brom since March 2010, when they met in the Championship - the Baggies won 3-2.
West Brom haven't won away at Preston in a league match since January 1959 (D3 L8 since), winning 4-2 with a team featuring Bobby Robson and managed by Vic Buckingham.
Since a run of six unbeaten league games between April and August of this year (W5 D1), Preston have failed to win any of their last eight Championship games (D2 L6) - their longest winless run since October 2015 (run of nine).
West Brom have lost just one of their last eight Championship games (W5 D2) scoring at least two goals in each of those victories.
Callum Robinson has been directly involved in four of Preston's last seven Championship goals (3 goals, 1 assist).
Since making his league debut for West Brom in August, only Brentford's Neal Maupay (8) has been directly involved in more Championship goals than Dwight Gayle (6).
Prutton's prediction
David Prutton predicts: 0-3 (22/1 with Sky Bet)
