Preston v Burnley: Clarets can edge derby dust-up

Preston unbeaten streak ends

Preston's unbeaten start in the Championship came to an end as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Birmingham last time out. Maxime Colin put the Midlands side in front after 16 minutes when he headed home Jordan Graham's cross; the hosts had a number of chances to draw level, with striker Emil Riis proving particularly wasteful in front of goal.

That's been the story of North End's season with boss Ryan Lowe yet again left ruing what might have been as his side drew a blank for the sixth game in eight this term. He said: "We probably just need a little bit more belief when we're in those areas, not to snatch at it. We're creating chances though and it's just being in the right place at the right time."

The Lilywhites will arrive with close to a full squad for Tuesday night's tussle. Andrew Hughes was the biggest doubt going into Saturday, but the Welshman is close to a full return and should be in the squad. That leaves Ben Woodburn as the only major absentee, with the midfielder expected to be back in the frame after the international break.

Burnley undone late on

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany admitted his side were not at the races in last Friday night's agonising 1-1 draw at West Brom. Jay Rodriguez's first-half penalty was cancelled out a last-gasp Baggies equaliser as the Clarets spurned the chance to go top of the Championship ahead of the weekend's games.

Burnley never got into their stride in the West Midlands; Kompany's charges were second best to every ball in the first half and were fortunate to go into the half-time interval in front. And the Clarets were put under plenty of pressure thereafter with a backs-against-the-wall effort in the final quarter that eventually resulted in the late leveller.

And post-match Kompany admitted his players paid the price for fatigue. He said: "In the end, I've been in the game long enough to recognise that it's a good point. It's the first time we looked a little more leggy. Just playing that 100 minutes proved too much for us in the end. We didn't take care of the ball and a lot of it was due to the players being tired."

Kompany could look to freshen his team up against Norwich with deadline-day signings Jordan Beyer and Halil Dervisoglu both looking to be involved from the off.

Clarets fair favourites

This is the first league meeting between Preston and Burnley since April 2016 and the Lilywhites will be looking to end a run of two straight home defeats against their local rivals this midweek. PNE have never suffered three successive losses here against Burnley, however, the hosts have W6-D1-L2 in Deepdale meetings here since 2001.

Preston 3.1511/5 are without a win at home in the Championship this season, also failing to score in each match (W0-D3-L1) - no second-tier side has ever failed to score in their first five home games in a league season. Ryan Lowe's outfit are ranked in mid-table for Expected Points (xP), although North End have created the fifth fewest chances.

Burnley 2.526/4 are proving to be a tough nut to crack under Vincent Kompany's watch (W3-D4-L1) with the visitors impressing when dispatching Millwall (2-0) and Wigan (5-1) over the past fortnight. The Clarets are ranked fifth on Expected Points (xP) table with an Expected Goals (xG) process that places the guests inside the top-10 of the Championship thus far.

Few goals fancied in derby dust-up

The market is heavily favoured towards Under 2.5 Goals 1.645/8 considering Preston's overwhelmingly low goal trends, as well as the derby factor. North End have been involved in five goalless draws already, with all eight encounters featuring a maximum of just one goal; the hosts have scored just twice, yet managed a huge seven shutouts themselves.

Burnley have failed to score just once since Premier League relegation and are yet to be involved in a 0-0 draw this term. Even so, three of their four away days have fallen below the regular 2.5 goal line and a repeat could well be on the cards again this midweek, making the Burnley Double Chance and Under 2.5 Goals a reasonable option here at 2.01/1.

This Bet Builder will pay-out should the game end 0-0, 1-1, or 1-0 or 2-0 in Burnley's favour.