Preston North End vs Derby County Prediction: Osmajic can bite back with a goal

I’m more alarmed about Preston this season than others. They don’t seem to have what it takes to drag themselves clear of the bottom three and worryingly, they’ve already made a managerial change as Paul Heckingbottom replaced Ryan Lowe just one game in. 

That change brought a slight upturn in results, but now they find themselves level on points with the bottom three after 15 matches. On Saturday (15:00), they host Derby County at Deepdale and the Rams have made a decent start, with 19 points to their name so far. Below you can find my Preston North End vs Derby County predictions with team news and betting tips. 

Team News

The big news for PNE has to be the return of Milutin Osmajic after his eight-game ban for biting Owen Beck earlier in the season. He played for the reserves during the international break and scored five goals against Wigan Athletic, so he is clearly raring to get back involved in the first team.

Robbie Brady suffered a serious ankle injury and is out until Christmas while Liam Lindsay missed the game against Portsmouth through injury and will hope to come back in having been recovering over the past two weeks. Will Keane could also return to the fold having missed the last eight weeks, given he has been spotted training with the first-team over the last week. 

Patrick Bauer and Ched Evans remain sidelined, with the latter now turning his attention to coaching at Deepdale. 

Football Odds

For the Rams, their six players who went away on international duty should all return fully fit, with goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom included in the Sweden squad again, but forced to watch from the bench. Ryan Nyambe and Tawanda Chirewa remain out injured for the long-term, but David Ozoh and Callum Elder may make the matchday squad after using this break to recover from their individual problems.

Paul Warne actually has a fairly settled side and it seems that his front three of Kayden Jackson, Jerry Yates and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing will start at Deepdale. Curtis Nelson and Nat Phillips should continue their partnership at the back as they target a rare clean sheet.

Preston North End vs Derby County Odds

Preston are priced at 6/5 to win this game, giving them a win probability of 45%. Derby can be backed at 11/5 while a draw is 2/1. Over 2.5 goals is 5/4, BTTS is 10/11 and Keane is the favourite to score first at 6/1. 

BTTS @ 10/11

Derby have seen both teams score in nine of their 15 Championship matches, which gives them a success rate of 60 per cent and put them behind only QPR and Portsmouth for that particular statistic. The recent run of results for the Rams though, where both teams have scored in their last six games, is the reason I’ve picked this selection. 

They look like a functional and dangerous outfit right now, but I’m not convinced about that back four, which makes this pick a sensible one. With Preston welcoming back two key strikers in the form of Keane and Osmajic, I believe we may see a better version of Heckingbottom’s PNE as well. Both teams have scored in four of their last five fixtures so let’s plump for that as our first selection.  

Milutin Osmajic to score anytime @ 23/10

He’s back. The big nibbly Montenegrin has been a major miss for PNE over the last six weeks and they’ve struggled to be the same attacking force without him. The bite on Beck was bizarre and his ban was fully deserved, but this time away will have only heightened his desire to get back amongst the goals. 

The five goals he scored against Wigan’s reserves over the break speaks to me of a striker that is desperate to prove himself all over again. In his only league start of the season he scored twice against Watford and I think he is PNE’s best centre-forward. As a result, I don’t think Heckingbottom has any choice but to get him back into the team as soon as possible.

He can return with a goal on Saturday afternoon. 

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