Preston are in contention for the play-offs for the third season in a row and arrive at Griffin Park on Saturday in seventh place, only three points behind Bristol City.

Like the Bees, since promotion to the Championship they have recorded solid top half of the table finishes – coming 11th in each of the last two campaigns since coming up via the play-offs in 2015.

Each season has seen a bid for a top six place at some stage and North End’s form since the middle of November has suggested they may come closer or even make it this time around.

On the first Saturday in November they lost 3-0 at Ipswich – their fourth successive defeat, which included our 3-2 win at Deepdale – and dropped to 14th in the table.

In their 14 games since then, however, they have won seven, drawn six and only lost once – at home to Middlesbrough on New Year’s Day – to set up a potentially exciting end to the season.

They weren’t even derailed by the deadline day loss of top scorer Jordan Hugill, who joined West Ham in a deal worth a reported £10m, with the club saying they could not “stand in his way for the chance of top-flight football”.

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Preston have an identical record at home and away this season with six wins, six draws and three defeats in each half of their results.

They are, however, the lowest scorers in the top half of the table with 37 goals from their 30 matches, but they do have the sixth best defensive record in the division with only 29 goals conceded.

North End are also, along with Brentford, one of only four Championship clubs never to have played in the Premier League – the others being Bristol City and Burton.

They can, however, point to being the first-ever Football League champions – finishing top of the table in each of the first two seasons of the competition.

WHO’S IN CHARGE

Alex Neil was appointed Preston manager in early July, in succession to Simon Grayson, who had left to join Sunderland.

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Neil had been sacked by Norwich in March after 27 months in charge, during which time he led them into the Premier League – although they were relegated after one season.

Before that, he managed Hamilton and led them into the Scottish Premier League, after helping them to a similar feat as a player in 2008.

He also represented Airdrie, Barnsley and Mansfield in a playing career in which he made more than 400 senior appearances.

WE’VE MET BEFORE

Without wanting to put the mockers on things and produce a goalless draw on Saturday, the last five meetings between Brentford and Preston have produced an impressive 23 goals.

There were 11 goals in last season’s two encounters – kicked off by a 5-0 win for the Bees at Griffin Park in September, featuring Scott Hogan’s first hat-trick for the club.

Hogan scored the only goal of the first half and that looked as though it was going to be enough before we scored four more in the last 15 minutes.

Harlee Dean doubled the lead with his first goal for nearly two years in the 74th minute and then a four-minute flurry produced the two goals to complete Hogan’s treble either side of a Chris Maguire own goal.

Preston avenged that defeat exactly a year ago this weekend, when they beat us 4-2 in Lancashire.

Tom Field gave us an early lead with his first Championship goal, but Aiden McGeady quickly equalised.

Callum Robinson gave PNE the lead early in the second half and McGeady made it 3-1 before Daryl Horgan hit the fourth and then Maxime Colin scored a late consolation.

Ollie Watkins was the match-winner at Deepdale in October as, after taking the lead three times, we finally won a five-goal thriller 3-2.

Nico Yennaris gave us the lead before being knocked out cold after a clash with Jordan Hugill straight after Preston kicked off. Sean Maguire equalised before half-time, but Romaine Sawyers restored our lead, only for Tom Barkhuizen to hit North End’s second leveller.

Watkins had the final word, though, as he turned in Florian Jozefzoon’s cross for the winner.

OPPOSITION VIEW

BBC Radio Lancashire’s Phil Cunliffe, who is commentating on the match for the station, assesses Preston’s January transfer dealings, looks at their home form and wonders whether they can achieve something for the first time this season on Saturday.

The big worry for PNE fans prior to January was Jordan Hugill and whether or not he would still be with the club come the first of February.

Having rebuffed bids for the striker last summer it might seem foolish to sell your leading scorer partway through the season, but sell they did – Alex Neil saying the money being offered by West Ham was too tempting to turn down and the club needed to cash in.

Now it was a case of how would they cope without Hugill? The answer so far has been encouraging with North End winning their last two games in Hugill’s absence.

Recent signing Billy Bodin has adjusted well to life in the Championship having scored freely in League One with Bristol Rovers. He offers something different and is improving game-on-game.

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Likewise,  Louis Moult arrived from Motherwell in January with the promise of goals but has been injured and not able to get off the mark. I guess the main concern is a lack of physicality up front – Hugill was muscular and robust – and PNE don’t seem to have an obvious replacement.

Midfield and defence looks strong with Alan Browne and Ben Pearson prominent. The former has finally started to add goals to his repertoire including a penalty last week in the win over Hull.

If Tom Barkhuizen can rediscover his early-season form and recover his stamina, then I see no reason why Preston can’t reach the play-offs. They will soon have the lively Sean Maguire back from long-term injury to further sharpen their cutting edge up front.

Home form needs to improve a little. There have been too many draws at Deepdale while North End also need to start matches better.

They have also only found the net once in the opening 15 minutes of a league game. Perhaps that could change on Saturday at Brentford’s expense?

ALEX NEIL’S VIEW

Alex Neil is not expecting an easy time of it when he brings his side to Griffin Park on Saturday.

He told North End’s iFollow service: “They’re a good side, it’s going to be a tough match. The last game we played against them was a good, competitive, tough game; it ebbed and flowed.

“I thought once we went two each we were going to go on and win it, we seemed to be on top of the game; but they have a lot of quality on the counter-attack where they can hurt you in that instance.

“That’s something that we’re going to have to try and guard against a bit better than we did the last time but I think it’ll make for an entertaining match.

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“Brentford is an excellent club in this division, Dean has done a great job there. They play a really good brand of football and they’re really competitive.

“We’ve got to hope we go there and play very well and if we do that, there’s no reason why we can’t get a result.

“It’s a bit of a throwback, you get the standing terraces (at Griffin Park) and I’m sure the fans will go for a couple of beers before the game and enjoy themselves.

“But what happens on the pitch will ultimately determine how good the trip will be so if we get a good result for them I’m sure they’ll have a good day. That’s what our aim is and we hope we don’t send them home disappointed.”

IAN WESTBROOK

@ianwestbrook

PUBS IN BRENTFORD

For Preston fans coming to the game, you are probably aware there plenty of pub options pre-match and all are most welcoming and away-fan-friendly (as it should be).

We are now back to the traditional four pubs around the ground, following the reopening of the Royal Oak.

The Griffin is closest to the away end (like 30 secs walk) and is very popular with away fans – but also very, very busy. The New Inn is on the other side and is also popular with away fans. The Princess Royal and the Royal Oak are the other options.

Other pubs slightly further afield for the more creative amongst you include (and this is by no means a definitive list) …. The Globe (Windmill Rd) is the Beesotted pre-match pub. This boozer & The Lord Nelson (Enfield Rd) are both incredibly friendly and cosy away-friendly pubs and about 1 min walk from each other …. frequented by ‘away fans in the know’.

The Plough (Northfields Ave) in Northfields is a decent stop-off if you are coming by tube to Northfields. The ‘Northfields run’ makes a much better pub crawl route than South Ealing – getting off at Northfields station, turning left and stopping off at The Plough (2 min walk), The Lord Nelson (10 min walk from The Plough) & The Globe (1 min walk from The Nelson) en-route before ending up at The Griffin (8 min walk from The Globe) by the away turnstiles.

There’s also a relatively new tiny microbrewery pub in Northfields called The Owl and The Pussycat (Northfields Ave)– right turn out of the station away from the ground as opposed to left.

There is a pub right by Brentford station referred to as … the Pub by Brentford station.

For ale head to the Magpie and Crown pub on Brentford High Street. The Royal Horseguardsman (Ealing Road) can probably hold 15 of you at a push.

The Brewery Tap (Catherine Wheel Road) is a cosy boozer by the river. And if you are super adventurous, get off at Kew Bridge and visit One Over the Ait (Kew Bridge Road) – a spacious boozer right next to Kew Bridge with a beer deck overlooking the river – and The Express Tavern (Kew Bridge Road) – an ale pub with a retro feel.

A quick Google search and you’ll find them all. There are many many more too if you have a look around.

Parking is pretty easy away from the ground going up towards and over the A4 Great West Rd (ie. North) via Ealing Road or Windmill Road.

Getting to Brentford from town – many fans get the tube to Waterloo (Northern, Jubilee lines) or Vauxhall (Victoria Line) then take the Overground train to Brentford.

This is relatively straightforward but can actually take longer than if you get the tube due to waiting times (overground trains come every 15 mins and the journey from Vauxhall or Waterloo to Brentford is 30 mins on the fast train – 51 mins on the slow train – so you could find it takes you over an hour including the journey from Kings Cross/Euston/Paddington).

Many fans choose the tube over the overground. It’s 35 minutes to Northfields station from Kings Cross or Euston (less from Paddington) and then 15 minutes walk to Brentford from there (4 mins on the bus) – more if you take the Northfields to Brentford pub crawl outlined above (Plough, Lord Nelson, Globe, Griffin) of course. If you’re feeling lazy you could take the E2 bus from outside Northfields station to either outside The Globe pub (3 stops – serves The Lord Nelson too) or Brentford FC (4 stops).

You can check out Transport for London’s guide to travel on the Tube and Overground.

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