Preston North End v Leeds UnitedSaturday 14th December@12:30 | DeepdaleLeeds will be out for revenge at Deepdale on Saturday lunchtime, when they go toe to toe with Paul Heckinbottom's Preston North End.
With the top four in the Championship beginning to pull clear from the rest of the pack, Leeds will not want a repeat performance of their last visit to Preston (Boxing Day last Christmas) when Illan Meslier was given his marching orders, early in the second half after shoving Milutin Osmajić in the face.
The fact of the matter is that the Leeds shot-stopper was just retaliating after being attacked first, but with Osmajić rolling around on the floor like he had just been shot, the referee produced a red card, which turned the game in Preston's favour.
Less than a month later the Whites got their revenge in the reverse fixture (by the same 2-1 aggregate score-line) but many can't help thinking how the first match would have played out without Osmajić's play acting!
Preston have always been a physical side. What they lack in talent, they more than make up for in graft, and theatrics. They find themselves twelve places and nineteen points below the Whites in the table, and are one of the division's leading draw specialists with half their games this season tied.
Paul Heckingbottom will be hoping to get star player Kaine Kesler-Hayden fit for the weekend after picking up a knock to his knee during their impressive 2-0 win at Cardiff on Wednesday evening. Milutin Osmajic completed his eight match ban last month for biting Blackburn's Owen Beck and no doubt will be singled out by the travelling Leeds contingent!
Sam Greenwood has had a decent start at Preston, providing four goals and two assists, but is ineligible to play against his parent club. Elsewhere, the hosts will be without the experienced Robbie Brady, who has been sidelined for almost two months due to an ankle injury, while Ched Evans is expected to be out until the end of the month.
Junior Firpo (hamstring) and Ilia Gruev (knee) have both been ruled out until the new year whilst there are question marks over Jayden Bogle, who missed the midweek win with a knock. Farke's options are limited; both Rodon and Byram were struggling during the latter stages of the Boro match, with Josuha Guilavogui perhaps being called into action at centre-back, a position he knows well.
This would allow Max Wober to continue at left-back, and hope that Byram is fit for right-back duties. Largie Ramazani and Ethan Ampadu are both on the road to recovery but will start on the bench.
