Preston vs Fulham Prediction: Cottagers could suffer Deepdale despair

Preston North End play host to Fulham in a Carabao Cup third-round fixture on Tuesday (19:45, Sky Sports+) at Deepdale.

North End remain fourth-bottom in the Championship despite Saturday’s encouraging 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough, while Fulham sit 12th in the Premier League after their weekend 1-1 draw at home to West Ham. Read on for my Preston vs Fulham prediction and all the latest match odds.

Team News

Preston have a largely healthy squad, but manager Paul Heckingbottom could choose to make a few changes and may hand a start to striker Milutin Osmajic, who netted a hat-trick in a 5-0 success at Harrogate in the previous round.

Football Odds

Fulham will be without Carlos Vinicius, who is recovering from a calf strain. Tom Cairney captained the side at Birmingham in the previous round and he should return to the starting XI.

Preston vs Fulham Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Preston vs Fulham page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

Preston are 18/5 to register a third successive home victory and 13/5 to take the game to penalties. Fulham are 7/10 to make their top-flight class count by winning without the need for spot-kicks.

Both teams to score is available to back at 4/5 and over 2.5 goals is priced up at 5/6.

Preston to win the tie @ 7/4

Preston have already gone two steps further than they did in last season’s Carabao Cup and they can make further progress by getting the better of Fulham at Deepdale.

The start of the season was a nightmare for North End, who lost 2-0 at home to Sheffield United in their opening game before parting company with their manager Ryan Lowe just three days later.

However, Preston were delighted to announce Heckingbottom as Lowe’s replacement and have shown improvement under the new man in the dugout.

He has presided over two wins, one draw, and a defeat and his team look ready to offer a stern test to Fulham, who are likely to rely heavily on their shadow squad.

A largely second-string Fulham won 2-0 at League One Birmingham in the last round, although it was a tough night’s work with the third-tier hosts carving out a 57.2 per cent possession share and winning the shot count 16 to eight.

Marco Silva’s side face a step up against Championship opposition and may struggle to get over the line.

Bet Builder - Milutin Osmajic to score anytime, over 2.5 goals and Preston or draw double chance (90 mins) @ 7/1

Osmajic helped himself to a hat-trick as Preston triumphed 5-0 at Harrogate in the Carabao Cup second round and he looks a likely scorer against the Cottagers.

The Montenegro international is an expert finisher and can contribute to a high-scoring affair that has every chance of going in the home side’s favour.

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