Sunderland are attempting to force their way into the Championship play-off places as they face Preston North End this weekend.
Preston currently sit 11th in the Championship with seventeen wins, twelve draws and sixteen losses from forty-five games this season.
PNE have had a solid campaign under Ryan Lowe despite limited resources having mounted a decent challenge for the play-off places, despite ultimately falling short.
They enter this game in poor form overall having drawn one and lost three of their last four matches, the most recent of which was a 4-1 battering away at Sheffield United.
Their home form is much more encouraging, however, with Preston unbeaten in their last five on the road having won three of their last four.
It's been a valiant effort from PNE this season but ultimately they did not have the quality to mount a sustained promotion push.
They'll now hope they can retain their most important squad members in the summer and make the necessary additions to kick on in the next campaign.
Sunderland currently sit 7th in the Championship with seventeen wins, fifteen draws and thirteen losses from forty-five games this season.
The Black Cats have had an excellent campaign in the Championship following promotion from League One last time out as they find themselves with a mathematical chance of promotion to the Premier League even if the odds are not in their favour.
In order to make the top six Sunderland need to win here and hope that Millwall either draw or lose to Blackburn Rovers on the final day.
Their away form has been strong of late too, with Tony Mowbray's side winning three and drawing one of their last four matches on the road.
Sunderland drew 0-0 with Preston when the two sides last met in the league but given the form of their opponents they'll fancy themselves to go one better here.
For our Preston vs. Sunderland prediction, we're going for a 2-1 win for the away side.
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