Preston North End v Leeds United: Can Preston spring a surprise @ 5/4? | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Ryan Deeney previews Preston North End v Leeds United in the EFL Championship

The early Championship kick-off sees Preston North End host Leeds United with Paul Heckingbottom looking to dent his former employers' promotion chances...

Football... Only Better. Listen to latet episode now.

🔗 Spotify

Nearly all road Leeds-ing to disappointment

It's been a big week for Leeds United in their battle for promotion back to the Premier League.

Daniel Farke's side responded to a frustrating defeat at Blackburn Rovers by seeing off both Derby County and Middlesbrough at Elland Road, making it five wins from six to move back into the automatic promotion spaces.

Four of those wins have come on home turf with victory at Swansea City, a bonkers encounter that finished up 4-3, their sole victory in six on the road while they have failed to score in three of their last four.

The challenge this weekend for Leeds is an obvious one: get over the line away from home.

Draw specialists Preston awkward opposition

Completing that challenge won't be easy against a Preston North End side proving awkward to play against.

Paul Heckingbottom took over from Ryan Lowe ahead of matchday three. They have won four, lost four and drawn ten of their 18 league matches since.

The Lilywhites picked up a much-needed victory in midweek, seeing off Cardiff City 2-0 to end a run of nine without a victory. Unsurprisingly, they had drawn seven of those.

This will be seen as something of a free hit but given Leeds' issues on the road and Preston winning one and drawing five against the top eight since Heckingbottom's arrival, they will fancy their chances of a result in what should be a low-margin affair (more on that shortly).

Too early for goals

It's the early kick-off. Don't expect many goals.

There have been 56 matches kick-off at some time between 12:00 and 13:30 so far this season: 37 of those have seen two or fewer goals scored. That's around 66% of all early kick-offs in the Championship.

Preston North End have kicked off early on four occasions this season with just three goals scored in those matches while Leeds have seen two or fewer goals scored in their last five early kick-offs.

Preston have also seen under 2.5 goals scored in their last five outings in the league while the same has happened in seven of Leeds' nine matches on the road.

Recommended bets

Back under 2.5 goals @ 8/11