The draw for the first round of the Carabao Cup was made on Thursday afternoon. Preston North End were drawn out to face Mansfield Town in a repeat of last season’s fixture, yet on this occasion the game will be at Mansfield’s One Call Stadium.
Last season saw Preston run out winners with a comfortable 4-0 victory over the League Two side. Tom Barkhuizen, Sean Maguire, Patrick Bauer and Josh Harrop were all on the scoresheet on that day.
The cup is split into a Northern and Southern section as this stage with no seeded teams. Last season Preston made it into the third round of the competition, beating Mansfield Town and Derby County before losing to Brighton and Hove Albion at Deepdale.
The fixture will take place on the week commencing 9th August meaning Preston will have already played their opening fixture of the Championship at home to Hull City.
The full league fixtures were revealed earlier today with the Blackpool fixtures falling in October and March, with the away game coming first.
Alex Neil traditionally rotated the team for any cup fixtures but it remains to be seen whether Frankie McAvoy will do the same. In the early stages of the season it’s beneficial to see as many players get some minutes under their belt as possible.
But given it has been some time since Preston had a decent cup run it would be nice to see the team progress a bit further this season.