Sideways Sammy

Five wins in a row and if Coventry City can keep this form up for the next few weeks, they could well have enough points on the board that would see them all but promoted. Now is the time to maintain focus and make hay while the sun is shining on this team. This division has a habit of situations quickly reversing, Coventry can’t afford to believe they are over the line yet.

A home game against a Preston North End side who look like they may well have nothing to play for this season is a great opportunity to stretch this winning streak. While Preston have a reputation as being a bogey team for the Sky Blues, a team gunning for promotion should be relishing a chance to take an opponent in this kind of situation. Navigating this fixture with a minimum of fuss is the kind of thing that will decide how comfortable the remainder of the campaign is.

Expected Line-Up

Injuries to Bobby Thomas, Jack Rudoni and Frank Onyeka could well have derailed a very settled Coventry City side but Frank Lampard did well to shuffle the pack and maintain focus, highlighting the depth that has been added to this squad over the past year. The prognosis on Thomas and Rudoni is such that they are unlikely to be seen again this side of Easter, which makes a suspension for Joel Latibeaudiere far from welcome.

The positives heading into this game are that Frank Onyeka picked up some minutes from the bench on Saturday to put him back in contention to start against a physical Preston North End side. Additionally, Liam Kitching looks to have recovered some of the composure he had lost over the winter in an assured cameo from the bench after Joel Latibeaudiere’s sending off, which could well see the former remain in the team during the run-in.

A rare positive display in Sky Blue from Luke Woolfenden on Saturday was especially welcome given the current shortages in defence. For the player himself, it was a great time to put in a good performance, with there now being a window of opportunity to string together a run of starts – maybe even from now until the end of the season.

Elsewhere, the big decision looks to be whether to bring Frank Onyeka back into the starting line-up or keep him on the bench so that he’s fresh for a possibly more challenging game just a few days later against Southampton. There is probably some merit to starting Victor Torp against a team likely to sit off Coventry City anyway, but the Dane really needs to take this opportunity to show what he can do as the second half of the campaign is starting to slip by him amid a slew of fairly anonymous performances.

If there are other changes, it may be with managing the squad in a three-game week in mind. Romain Esse and Brandon Thomas-Asante are potential attack-minded swaps for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Josh Eccles respectively in order to deal with a potentially deep-lying opposing defence, while also keeping legs fresh for the Southampton game on Saturday.

Last Time We Met

Whichever Prestonian decidedly to randomly place a curse on Coventry City visiting Deepdale will have been smiling from their perch in heaven as the Sky Blues again toiled in Lancashire despite, seemingly, having been handed the perfect chance to break their hoodoo. In a tight first-half, a red card for Liam Lindsay for Preston turned the game into Preston defence against Coventry attack for much of the rest of proceedings.

Coventry City blew chance after chance following the break, with Preston keeper, Daniel Iversen, in inspired form. Iversen was finally beaten when his own defender, Andrew Hughes, got his feet all wrong when trying to block a Jack Rudoni shot. With 20 minutes left and Preston offering nothing, it looked like Cov had done enough to finally win at Deepdale. However, the Sky Blues lost concentration soon after, allowing Pol Valentin the freedom of the left side of their defence and Daniel Jebbison somehow poking the ball past Carl Rushworth through a phalanx of Coventry bodies to continue the Preston North End hoodoo.

The Opposition

The Manager – Paul Heckingbottom

Having started the season positively, adding fresh bodies and youth to a squad that had grown stale. Paul Heckingbottom hasn’t been able to lift Preston North End out of their Preston-ness, with another season petering out at Deepdale. Sitting firmly in mid-table and five games without a win, Preston look short of inspiration and motivation, with the hope being that another summer to rejig the squad might well be the solution to their current malaise.

In terms of pure stats, Preston North End are somewhat fortunate not to be closer to the bottom three than they currently are. Some good finishing from their strikers has papered over a lack of creativity, while some inspired goalkeeping from Daniel Iversen – when he was fit – has massively hidden how poor they have been defensively at times. Recent months have seen North End revert towards the area of the table their performances have suggested they should be and if this continues until the end of the campaign, there have to be questions asked as to whether Heckingbottom has made any impact in his near two seasons at the club.

Who To Look Out For?

The positive parts of Preston North End’s season have come from the pace and ingenuity added in attacking areas last summer, via Lewis Dobbin out wide and attacking midfielder Alfie Devine. Dobbin, in particular, has proved an inspired loan signing that Preston will do well to keep hold of, a very direct and rangy wide player with great delivery who has started to find an end product this campaign. In addition, adding Odel Offiah and Thierry Small at full-back has some much needed dynamism and pace at the back.

It speaks to Preston’s desperate lack of inspiration that Milutin Osmajic has been allowed back in the team, having been forgiven for biting and racist-related suspensions, a recent ban for a headbutt looked to be much more unforgivable, but apparently being the one player in the team capable of scoring goals can forgive a multitude of sins. The Montenegrin adds physicality, mobility and combativeness up front which is why he’s managed to get back into Paul Heckingbottom’s good graces.

Elsewhere, Preston North End possess a multitude of experienced, wily professionals who are capable of both eking out results for the team but may also be responsible for the team’s inability to kick on beyond lower mid-table. Ben Whiteman and Jordan Thompson in central midfield, with Jordan Storey and Lewis Gibson in defence keep things sturdy but just be lacking the kind of dynamism that separates middling teams from the good teams at this level.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

While Preston North End are struggling at the moment, they have largely been competitive in the games they’ve failed to win, so Coventry City cannot expect a complete walkover here. The Sky Blues can struggle to break down teams that sit in, especially if they are competent defending Coventry’s set-piece threat, so it may take patience and ingenuity to get past a tight defence that is going to look to frustrate and wait for chances on the break.

Luke Woolfenden will be in for a stern inspection of his qualities as a defender in a team looking to force the issue in this game. Woolfenden did well last time out when Coventry were able to sit in and avoid exposing his lack of pace and slow turning speed. Against the likes of Milutin Osmajic and Lewis Dobbin, Woolfenden may well be exposed in foot races if his positioning isn’t good enough to avoid them or the midfield doesn’t adequately screen him.

At the other end, it will be about finding opportunities to get the forwards in behind Preston North End’s defence. Haji Wright and Ephron Mason-Clark thrive making darting runs into space behind back lines, but may not get much opportunity to do so unless Coventry can play the ball quickly in behind. That was already a concern with Jack Rudoni in the side but without him, it’s a choice between leaving the midfield open without the ball by starting Brandon Thomas-Asante or someone who is less capable of threading passes, in Josh Eccles – this is possibly where playing Romain Esse through the middle could be a consideration. Unless Coventry find some joy from set-pieces or score early, this could well be a test of patience and about using the bench at the right moments to keep up the pressure on Preston.