Preston North End (H) Foster's Preview

As Argyle get set to meet Preston North End at Home Park this weekend, Ian Foster’s team will be bolstered by the unusual combination of momentum and frustration.

The performance at Blackburn Rovers last week was a dominant one, with the Greens dictating the tempo of the game and controlling the ball, but ended in a 1-1 draw.

Foster says the squad are buoyed by how well they played, but fuelled by the sense that they emerged from Lancashire with a third of the points that they ought to have done.

“I walked into a really frustrated and disappointed dressing room,” said Foster, “because they got the sense that it was two points dropped, given the chances that they created for themselves and the level of performance they achieved.

“We’ve seen from the training sessions this week that there's a hunger and desire in them to put that right. It won't be easy. I imagine the chances that we'll get on Saturday might be few and far between, against a really robust and rugged defensive unit in Preston.

“I believe that if we play to that level of performance, then we've got a chance.”

Preston are tenth in the Sky Bet Championship, four places and five points outside of the play-off positions. Managed by former Argyle boss Ryan Lowe, Preston were early pacesetters, had a rocky spell through November and December, but have performed well in 2024, until a defeat at home to Stoke City last weekend.

Foster says that Preston, playing in the formation the Green Army will be familiar with from Lowe’s tenure with the Pilgrims, will be a stubborn opposition, and picked out some specific players to keep an eye on.

He told Argyle TV: “[They are a] really challenging opponent, something that you don't face every week in terms of their approach and how they play. We've got to be ready for that physical aspect of the game that they'll bring.

“They've got some really good players that can operate in between the lines and can hurt you. In the makeup of the team, in the 3-4-1-2, if you like, the 10 (Mads Frokjaer-Jensen) is an interesting player. We've got to be able to control him and manage him, because he can be really effective for them.

“Both nines (Will Keane and Emil Riis Jakobsen) are a threat. They’ve got a different type of player in the wing-back positions: one (Alan Browne) who's an orthodox one, and one (Liam Millar) who's a nine, really, who’s transitioned into a wing-back, and is a huge danger cutting inside the pitch. 

“We're aware of the quality that they've got and what they bring. We've got to make it about us. We've got to impose ourselves on the game, and we've got to be able to show the Argyle fans what we're capable of doing, at Home Park.

“That's what we aim to do. We want to play on the front foot, we want to have that level of positivity in our play.”