Preview: Preston North End vs. Cardiff City - prediction, team news, lineups

Steve Morison will take charge of his first game since being appointed as permanent Cardiff City manager when the Bluebirds travel to Preston North End on Saturday afternoon.

City return from the two-week international break sitting just three points above the Championship relegation zone, while Preston are six points better off in 16th place.

Match preview

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After snapping a 10-game winless run with a late 2-1 victory over Huddersfield Town last time out, the Cardiff board moved to hand interim boss Morison a permanent contract.

Morison, who had previously been working with City's Under-23s side, has won one, drawn one and lost one of his three games since Mick McCarthy's sacking a month ago.

A return of four points from those three games is a substantial improvement on the zero points accrued across their previous eight games, failing to score in all but one of those.

Cardiff appear to be on their way up, then, as they seek their first back-to-back league wins since beating Wycombe Wanderers and Birmingham City in April and May.

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Preston are better off than the Welsh side in the table, but their form has been rather inconsistent of late under Frankie McAvoy.

The Lilywhites went seven games without a win before a run of three victories and two defeats in their most recent five matches.

That includes a pretty resounding 3-0 loss at Nottingham Forest two weeks ago, leaving North End 16th in the table and now five points off the playoffs.

However, Preston have won their last two matches at Deepdale and are looking for three wins in a row on home soil for the first time since December last year.

Cardiff have won their last two games at Deepdale, though, which is as many as they managed in their previous 15 visits there.

Team News

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After making four changes to Cardiff's lineup last time out, Morison may go for a more settled XI this time around.

However, that may depend on the fitness of star striker Kieffer Moore, who played a full part in Wales's draw with Belgium on Tuesday.

Should Moore be fit to start for Cardiff, Morison will effectively have a full group of players available to choose from, with James Collins and Tom Sang back available.

As for Preston, they will be forced into at least one change for Saturday's match as Patrick Bauer sustained an injury in the loss to Forest that will keep him out for a month.

Jordan Storey was introduced in Bauer's place two weeks ago and is the most likely candidate to get the nod alongside Sepp van den Berg and Andrew Hughes in defence.

North End have a number of other players absent through injury, including the likes of Connor Wickham, Isaiah Brown and Josh Murphy, who would have been ineligible anyway.

Preston North End possible starting lineup:
Iversen; Van den Berg, Storey, Hughes; Barkhuizen, Whiteman, Browne, McCann, Earl; Jakobsen, Maguire

Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Smithies; Flint, Morrison, Nelson; Sang, Ralls, Pack, Giles; Colwill, Harris; Moore

We say: Preston North End 1-1 Cardiff City

Cardiff's results have improved of late, and they could now do with finding some consistency under new permanent boss Morison.

Preston have won back-to-back games at Deepdale, but it has been almost a year since they won three on the spin there, and we can see them being held this weekend.

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