With Sunderland facing off against Preston North End for their first game of 2024, here are five Preston players to keep an eye out for...
FREDDIE WOODMAN: GK
Preston’s number one is already pretty well known to Sunderland fans because of his eight-year stint with the Mags. Woodman actually barely featured for Newcastle, being sent out on loan six times during his time there to an array of sides in both Scotland and England: Hartlepool, Crawley, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen, Swansea and Bournemouth. He finally settled last year at Deepdale after making a permanent transfer to the Lilywhites. He’s shown himself to be an effective shot stopper in the Championship, keeping an impressive 17 clean sheets during last season’s campaign. This season has not gone very well for him so far though, with just three clean sheets in 23 appearances but on his day he's more than capable of giving our attack some issues and keeping his side in games. He performed admirably last season against Sunderland, keeping a clean sheet at the SoL as well as pulling off some good saves during the final game of the regular season, despite his side conceding three. Last time out it took a penalty to deny him a clean sheet against us.
LIAM LINDSAY: CB
Lindsay started his footballing career at Partick Thistle, after two loan spells with Alloa Athletic and Aidrieonians he became a regular in the first team squad and helped them to remain in the top flight for two seasons. In his final season north of the border he was named in the Scottish Premiership Team of the Year and earned a move to Championship Barnsley. Despite relegation in his first campaign there, the Colliers were able to bounce back and regain second tier status at the first time of asking. There were calls for him to be selected for the Scottish national team during his time at Barnsley but they seemingly fell on deaf ears and he still hasn't played for the Tartan Army to this day. Stoke picked him up following this but his spell there ended up less than ideal. Liam was forced out of the starting XI because of new arrivals in the January window but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he was loaned out to Preston. He performed well and this warranted PNE to make the move permanent. The next season would see him feature sporadically but last season he featured more prominently and has become an ever present for our opponents playing in all of their Championship games so far.
BRAD POTTS: RWB
One of Preston’s joint-top goalscorers last season, out of the players who haven’t departed the club this summer is versatile midfielder/defender Brad Potts. He netted five in all competitions for Preston last season and has so far scored once this season. He began his senior career with Carlisle, then moved to Blackpool where he was relegated but then immediately won promotion back into League One. He made the move to Barnsley following that where he was once again immediately relegated and then promoted (this time automatically) this time in and out of the Championship -although he did leave midway through the season (but I’ll count it anyway). This is his sixth season at Preston and the 29 year old has played in all but one of their league games so far and Potts is only a few appearances away from his 200th for his current club.
WILL KEANE: ST
A player signed in the summer transfer window, it’s Republic of Ireland international forward Will Keane (5 caps and no goals so far). The 30 year old transferred from Wigan Athletic following their relegation and, despite their generally awful season, he managed 12 goals for them all in the Championship. A product of the Manchester United academy, he began his career with a variety of loan spells. To Wigan, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Preston, so he must have been popular as he’s since returned to two of those clubs. He’d make a permanent move to Hull City and that included a loan spell to Ipswich Town, which was eventually made permanent. He spent three seasons at Wigan after this, where he won a League One title. Keane has missed a few games this season but is the away team's top scorer with six goals.
ALAN BROWNE: CM
Another Irish international (35 caps and five goals) rounds off this list, this time it's Preston North End veteran Alan Browne who has been with the club since December 2013 after moving from Cork City. Browne was part of the team that was promoted to the Championship via the League One play offs back in 2015 and is only a handful of games away from his 400th time wearing the PNE shirt. Still only 28, he's obviously their captain and it looks like he'll go well beyond the 400 mark which is a rarity in the modern game.
