Bristol City currently occupy 10th place in the Championship, and the Robins come into this fixture off the back of FA Cup success, beating Portsmouth 2-1 courtesy of goals from Famara Diedhiou and Chris Martin.

On the other hand Preston North End crashed out of the FA Cup last week, losing 4-1 at the hands of fellow Championship club, Wycombe Wanderers

  • Team News 

Bristol City boss, Dean Holden is suffering an injury crisis and will be without Callum O'DowdaNathan Baker and Steven Sessegnon due to hamstring injuries, whereas Liam WalshJay Dasilva and Jack Hunt are also absent due to sustained injuries. 

Preston manager Alex Neil has injury worries of his own, as Ben PearsonPatrick Bauer, Louis Moult and Billy Bodin are all unlikely to feature due to injuries.

Top-goalscorer Scott Sinclair is also not expected to feature in this game as he is still out with a hamstring injury, as new signing Ben Whiteman may be handed his debut. 

  • Predicted lineups

Bristol City

Bentley; Mariappa, Vyner, Kalas, Rowe, Semenyo, Bakinson, Nagy, Massengo, Martin, Wells

Preston North End

Rudd; Fisher, Huntington, Davies, Hughes, Bayliss, Ledson, Potts, Johnson, Barkhuizen, Maguire

  • Ones to watch 

Bristol City- Nahki Wells

Wells is currently enduring a goal drought, having not netted in his last seven league games. The experienced Championship striker has started every game for Dean Holden's side this season, and has played as a lone striker as well as a winger. Preston provides the perfect opportunity for Wells to end his goal drought, as Saturday's visitors have only won twice in their last seven away games. If Wells starts scoring once more, Bristol City can continue their play-off surge which has faltered in previous years. 

Preston North End- Ben Davies

The Preston defender has been part of a shaky season for the Lilywhites, which sees them in the bottom half of the table. Davies has missed eight games this season due to a hamstring injury and in that time, Preston have conceded 17 goals. Davies has been at the club for seven years and in order to reach the top half of the table once more, Preston need stability at the back and this is something the returning Davies can provide to keep a dangerous Bristol City attack at bay. 

  • Previous Meetings

When these sides met earlier in the season, Preston were 1-0 victors courtesy of a first half Daniel Johnson penalty. Bristol City's last victory against Preston was a 4-0 win in 2011, with Andy Keogh, David Clarkson (2) and Brett Pitman all scoring on the day. 

  • How to watch

The game will be available to watch at 3pm on Saturday on both teams iFollow accounts for the price of £10 respectively. 

  • Manager Quotes

Bristol City boss, Dean Holden touched on his sides injury woes, stating ''As I say, there is no getting away from the fact that we have had lots of injuries.

''We are looking into why that is. There are many variables. You cannot just put them into one basket and say there is one specific thing. You have to look at every player and every player individually and work out in isolation how best to move forward.

''I touched on it a couple of weeks ago: every part of the football club is looking to improve. That is the challenge for us. Other than that, I do not want to say too much.''

Preston North End manager, Alex Neil expanded on the clubs COVID and transfer situation, explaining ''We have had a COVID scare with an outbreak if you will.

''Largely it is been staff affected rather than players - only one or two players have been affected by it. We had to shut the training ground Monday to Wednesday. It has been difficult for the new lads.

''I think we have had a lot of players here for a long period of time and if you are not playing regularly, or are in and around it, the last thing we want is for their careers to stall. We need to help some lads - younger lads at the start of their careers and then lads at the other end.''

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