van den Berg starts: How we expect Preston North End to line up against Blackpool tonight

Preston face a huge derby clash against Blackpool in midweek and will be desperate to get one back on the Seasiders after the way the result went last time out.

Neil Critchley’s side managed to stroll to a 2-0 win over their rivals the last time these two met and that also involved PNE man Alan Browne being shown a red card late on too.

Blackpool then did get the upper hand in the derby when the fixture last took place but the Lilywhites are a different outfit now, with some new players in the squad and a new man at the helm in Ryan Lowe. The former Plymouth boss is well aware of how much the match means and will be desperate not to lose the first derby game that he is in charge of.

With that in mind then, who could Lowe select in his starting eleven for this clash?

It could be a really refreshed and changed team from the one that lost to Derby, especially when it comes to the tactical side of the team as well.

Last time out, Lowe decided to try a 4-3-3. It quickly went out the window when Liam Lindsay was red-carded and he is likely to revert back to his favourite style for this one, considering it has previously won him games. The aforementioned Lindsay won’t be involved though due to his ban. Instead, Sepp van den Berg should return to the team after featuring for his country during the international break. Andrew Hughes should also find himself in a more familiar centre-back role too.

On the left, it could be either of two players. It appears Greg Cunningham might be able to play in the game, in which case he should be the starting option at LWB. If not though, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ali McCann perhaps shoehorned into the role – and he certainly does deserve a chance to at least start a game for North End