After a Carabao Cup exit, City return to Sky Bet Championship action as they make the trip to Deepdale to face Preston North End on Saturday 12 September (3pm KO).
Read all they key stats, information and pre-match thoughts of head coach, Chris Cohen and City forward, Rob Street.
Opposition Information
North End find themselves at the foot of the Sky Bet Championship table at this very early stage with just three points from their opening five games. However, those points came in their most recent home game when welcoming Lancashire rivals, Blackburn Rovers to Deepdale. It was the Lilywhites who headed into the break with a two-goal advantage on that occasion before a Stanley Mills own goal brought Rovers back into the game but despite having the lion's share of position, they couldn’t find an equaliser giving Paul Heckingbottom’s side their first three points of the campaign.
The man who scored Preston North End’s first-half brace against Blackburn was Callum Lang; they were his first goals of the 2026/27 and his first in a Preston shirt but he has since continued in a rich vein of form when scoring the opening goal in his side’s 2-1 loss to Watford as they made the trip down south to face the Hornets. Lang is heading into his second season in white after signing in February of this year, he only went on to make five appearances in the previous campaign but has featured in all eight of North End’s competitive fixtures during the current season.
Paul Heckingbottom has brought in 10 new recruits to aid his side’s 2026/27 hopes and included in that number is Alfie Devine who put pen-to-paper with the Lilywhites after a successful loan spell throughout the duration of last season. He joined on loan from Tottenham Hotspur last summer and went on to make 48 appearances in all competitions, scoring eight goals and providing a further seven from the base of midfield.
Chris Cohen said: “We’ve been watching Preston already and we feel they’re in a real false position at the bottom of the table for the way they’ve played so far this season. We’ll hopefully be able to give the players the game plan and put the right team together to try and go there and get all three points.”
Chieo Ogbene’s Leadership
Chieo Ogbene spoke to the press after City's cup exit and he went out of his way to thank the fans for travelling such a long way on a Tuesday night. Both Chris Cohen and Rob Street spoke about the influence Chieo has instantly made around the group with the experience and knowledge and how he is already guiding some of the younger players.
Chris Cohen said: “The performance was disappointing but there were some bright individual performances and Chieo was one of them. He’s obviously played at the highest level, so how he interacts with all the people around him is amazing, I saw him have a 20-minute conversation with Andrei Coubiș on the bus prior to the game.”
Rob Street said: “He’s played at the top level so he’s a really good player but he’s the type of player you love to have in the building. Having that kind of experience in and amongst the players it helps us all a lot as we can learn from him and he’s got a lot of time for the younger players.”
Rob Street’s Thoughts
After an impressive 2025/26 campaign, Rob Street has enjoyed his first taste of Championship football since City’s promotion from Sky Bet League One, with the forward reflecting on the increased intensity and quality of the teams in the division and also speaking about the positive mood in and around the players after the small number of games so far.
Street said: “Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been a good test. We’ve had a positive start in some regards. We’ve probably been unlucky not to pick up a few more points here and there, but it’s been a refreshing challenge. It’s the first time I’ve ever played at this level, and I’ve really been enjoying it.”
He added: “Yeah, definitely. The atmosphere has been amazing since we’ve come back and it’s been a good place to play football. Hopefully we can start to pick up a few more points and use that to our advantage over the coming weeks.”
H2H
This is the first face-off between these two sides since the turn of the millennium, the last time City travelled to Deepdale and came away with all three points was in August 1995. The game was on the opening day of the division three season, and Preston North End were pre-season promotion hopefuls. It was the hosts who opened the scoring through Andy Saville in the 35th minute, just two minutes later a goal from City forward, David Puttnam erased the lead and almost instantaneously, Dean West completed the quick turnaround and ensured the trip back to Lincolnshire came with all three points.
Ten years earlier, during the 1984/85 season, City also travelled to Lancashire and emerged victorious by the narrow scoreline of 1-0. It was Imps legend, Gordon Hobson, who scored the all-important winning goal that day, in one of Colin Murphy’s final games in charge of the club. It was also one of Hobson’s final games of his first stint with the club, a stint which spanned from 1977-1985 where he made 272 appearances and scored 72 goals, he then left for Grimsby Town and Southampton before returning in 1988 for two seasons where he racked up a further 23 goals.
Match Information
City will be sporting their anthracite away kit for the trip to face the Lilywhites - get yours HERE.
Stephen Martin will take charge of this weekend’s game and will be assisted from the sidelines by both Nigel Lugg and Drew Dutton with the fourth official for the afternoon being Scott Jackson.
Legendary broadcaster, John Helm, will be joined in Lancashire by Dean West to provide the commentary for Imps+ - check out your streaming options HERE.
