Preston North End are looking to build on an impressive start to the season as they face Cardiff City in the EFL Championship this weekend.
Preston North End currently sit 5th in the EFL Championship with eight wins, four draws and four losses from sixteen games this season.
PNE have been one of the league's surprise packages so far as few had them down as serious play-off contenders given the shoestring budget manager Ryan Lowe had to work with during the summer.
They are, though, looking very much like a serious playoff threat and they come into this game in decent form having lost just one of their last five games.
Their most recent outing saw them claim a big 2-1 win away at Blackburn Rovers with an injury-time winner from Liam Lindsay sealing the points after Alan Browne had opened the scoring. The result means they're now coming into this game off the back of successive wins so momentum is well on their side.
Their form at Deepdale has been pretty strong with Preston having lost just one of their last five games on home soil so they should feel confident of three points in this one.
If the playoffs are Preston's aspiration then these are the sorts of fixtures they need to be winning and the likelihood is they'll do just that.
Cardiff City currently sit 9th in the EFL Championship with seven wins, three draws and six losses from sixteen games this season.
Given many expected the Bluebirds to struggle coming into this campaign the first few months can only be labelled an unbridled success for Cardiff as they find themselves well clear of the relegation battle having even occupied the top six at one stage.
They're entering this game amidst a mixed run of form having won two, drawn one and lost two of their last five games, the most recent of which was a 2-3 loss to Norwich City.
The defeat to Norwich was quite a dagger for Cardiff given Norwich were in such abysmal form coming into that game so the Bluebirds will no doubt as though that was a huge opportunity missed, especially given they were leading the game with eight minutes remaining only for two goals in two minutes to turn the game on its head right at the end.
As such, Cardiff will be glad that the international break arrived when it did so they could rid the disappointment from their systems but things aren't about to get any easier here, and considering they've won only one of their last five away from home they could be in line for successive defeats in this one.
For our Preston vs. Cardiff prediction, we're going for a 2-1 win for the home side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.