Ben Whiteman speaks out on the mood at Preston North End ahead of AFC Bournemouth clash

Preston North End midfielder Ben Whiteman has admitted Preston North End tend to to better against the teams at the top of the Championship table.

North End face 2nd-placed AFC Bournemouth at Deepdale on Saturday, but Whiteman believes Preston perform better against the better teams in the division.

“We tend to do well against the better sides in the league.” Whiteman admitted via the Lancashire Post.

“Bournemouth are coming to town and we have to be ready for them because we know they are a good side.

“We turned them over at their place a few months ago and they’ll be thinking about that.”

Preston were the first team to defeat AFC Bournemouth in the Championship this season when the two sides met at the Vitality Stadium in October.

On that day, North End ran out 2-1 winners, with Whiteman himself scoring one of the goals.

Preston currently sit mid-table in the Championship in 12th place, 7 points outside the play-off spots, but Whiteman says they’re going into games feeling good about themselves

“As a squad we are going into games feeling positive.” he explained to the Lancashire Post.

“Our aim as the season goes on is just to win as many games as possible.

“We’ve set targets which will stay in-house and hopefully we can reach those.

In recent weeks, Preston have suffered frustrating draws against Coventry and Nottingham Forest – games Whiteman feels they should have taken all three points.

“It’s where we are at, we drew both games but I think we should have won them,” Whiteman told the Lancashire Post.

“As a team I think we are on an upward curve, everyone can see that we have improved massively. All over the pitch we look a miles better team.”

“In recent weeks we have gone to other grounds and dominated games.”