Preston North End vs Luton Town - Match Preview

Team News

Foley: May return for Luton

Luton - Luton's injured players are making good progress towards a recovery from injury, although very few of them are likely to be in contention for tomorrow's match. The most likely players to return are wide players Kevin Foley and Lewis Emanuel. Foley unexpectedly missed the midweek defeat against Burnley with a calf injury and Newell will wait until the last minute to decide whether he will be available for selection. If he misses out, then Carlos Edwards will probably deputise as a full-back, leaving us with less attacking options and goalscoring options which we missed against Burnley. Emanuel is very likely to miss the trip up north with a knee injury. This means that Peter Holmes will probably have to deputise in defence again after filling in the same position against Burnley. Other injury stricken players will not play a part. Chris Coyne is making good progress from a knee injury, but isn't ready to make a comeback yet. Paul Underwood has shaken off an infection that he picked up but is short of match fitness. Sam Parkin will miss out because of an ongoing hamstring injury (as far as useless strikers go, we'll have to stick with Feeney for now). Sol Davis is also making excellent progress after suffering a stroke last week. He is out of hospital and may return in 3-6 months time.
Predicted Team - Beresford (GK), Holmes (DL), Foley (DR), Barnett (DC), Heikkinen (DC), Morgan (ML), Edwards (MR), Robinson (capt) (MC), Langley (MC), Vine (SC), Feeney (SC)

Preston - Preston's only significant problems with selection comes up front. David Nugent is fit but his in-form partner Danny Dichio is suspended. This means that Patrick Agyemang will probably start in his place, although Agyemang is not 100% himself. Definitely out are You Mawene, Adam Nowland and Neil Mellor.

Unfortunately for us, Preston are in very good form. They are unbeaten at home, winning 6 of their 8 home matches in the process. They are second in the league, four points behind Cardiff in 1st place and 7 points clear of Luton down in 11th. They have also won four of their last five games, with just one defeat against 3rd place Burnley. On top of all that, Luton have failed to win at Preston since 1971-72. Basically, everything is set up for a Preston victory. Two players should be playing against their former clubs tomorrow at Deepdale. Graham Alexander left Luton in the late 90's to join Preston and has been there ever since. His form has transformed since leaving Luton (then again he was playing under Lennie Lawrence), and his performances for Preston saw him earn a Scotland call up. For Luton, Steve Robinson will be starting against his former club. Robbo scored just one goal for Preston, and didn't make many appearances before moving on.
Prediction
To cut a long prediction short, Luton won't win and Feeney won't score. If either of these things happen then I'll apologise to the team and/or Feeney. But they won't. 3-1 to Preston North End, and Luton will have to recover against QPR instead.

Alexander: Should play against Luton tomorrow.