Preston North End suffered their first defeat of the season at the weekend, as West Bromwich Albion romped to a 4-0 win at Deepdale. It was the fifth time Ryan Lowe’s side had conceded four goals in 2023 and with tough games around the corner, fans will hope it’s their last.
It’s been Preston’s best start to a season for nearly a century in any other year their 20 point total from the first eight games would have seen them top. Defeat in their ninth game left them in third place with a little bit of a buffer at this stage over the teams below them.
Two games remain before another international break, and at this early stage of the season you couldn’t pick two harder fixtures.
The other pace setters have been Leicester City and Ipswich Town. The Foxes should comfortably win the league this season. The Premier League champions of 2016 have plenty of class in their squad, and with one of Pep Guardiola’s apprentices in charge in Enzo Maresca, their start to the season doesn’t come as much of a surprise.
Leicester City (A) Wednesday 4th October – 7:45pm
Leicester City have only fallen to one defeat so far this season as well. That came at home to Hull City but they have had some impressive wins aside from that. A 4-1 victory over Southampton was followed up by a 2-0 win against Norwich City, and both of those were on the road. Today they beat Blackburn Rovers away by a 4-1 score line too.
Quite simply Leicester shouldn’t have been anywhere near the relegation zone last season in the Premier League. Brendan Rodgers had enjoyed the first three-and-a-half years as manager of the club. With an FA Cup win in 2021 and consecutive fifth place finishes in the top flight. They also reached the semi-finals of the inaugural Europa Conference League.
Some poor recruitment led to their relegation last season, but they’ve still kept some key players such as Jamie Vardy, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Wilfred Ndidi and Ricardo Pereira. They’ve also strengthened that with the signings of Harry Winks, Callum Doyle and former Preston loan players Stephy Mavididi and Tom Cannon.
Cannon is injured for the foreseeable future, but Leicester have a lot of talent in attacking areas. Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka were only named on the bench for Sunday’s win over Blackburn Rovers.
They have a plethora of talent and Ryan Lowe is probably going to have to tinker with his side to ensure they are not thrashed again like they were this weekend.
Ipswich Town (A) – Saturday 7th October – 3pm
After the game with Leicester, comes a long trip to Ipswich as we take on The Tractor Boys at Portman Road. This is Ipswich’s first season back at this level since 2019, but they were tipped by many to make it back-to-back promotions.
Former Manchester United coach Kieran McKenna is excelling in his first role as manager. Ipswich picked up 98 points in League One last season, ending in style, with 14 wins and five draws from their least 19 league games.
They have continued that good form this season, winning seven and drawing one of their first nine. There is obviously a feel good factor in the team, and whilst they might not have as many ‘big names’ as Leicester, there is a strong cohesive team that can beat anyone in this league.
They have plenty of options in attacking areas with Conor Chaplin, Nathan Broadhead, Freddie Ladapo, Dane Scarlett and George Hirst available to them. Massimo Luongo is also an experienced player at this level.
It will be a tough game for Preston, and it is important the players pick themselves up from the heavy defeat to The Baggies, as similar score lines could follow if not.
A point from either of these games would be impressive, but it would be frustrating to head into the international break on the back of three defeats after such a positive August and September.