Preston North End must seize September opportunity with daunting October to follow

Preston North End blew all expectations out of the water in the first five games of the season. The Lilywhites headed into the international break top of the Championship table, having drawn with Bristol City and beaten Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Swansea and Stoke City. It’s incredibly early days but Ryan Lowe’s men have picked up some priceless early points and will be looking to sustain that form.

The post-break challenge coming their way certainly has some added spice to it, with Lowe’s old club Plymouth Argyle making the long trip up to Lancashire. It’s then the first midweek league match of the season: Birmingham City at home. North End’s third match of the week sees them head to Rotherham United, before hosting West Bromwich Albion the weekend after.

It would be foolish to assume any Championship contest will be easy, but PNE have gone toe-to-toe with some strongly fancied teams already this season and taken maximum points. Lowe’s men should not be fazed by the rest of this month’s schedule. They will rightly back themselves in their next four matches, though each will present a different test.

Steven Schumacher will have his men fired up for Saturday’s meeting, against his mate in Lowe and the man who wanted to bring him to Preston to continue as his assistant. Plymouth will be well backed despite the distance and there is a fearlessness to the Pilgrims, who clearly have goals in their locker.

Birmingham are unbeaten too, having had an impressive summer transfer window. Cody Drameh, Jay Stansfield, Lee Buchanan, Dion Sanderson, Siriki Dembele, Ethan Laird and Krystian Bielik are notable additions along with other exciting names. The Blues had won three on the bounce prior to the draw with Millwall and stayed clear of expected relegation trouble under John Eustace last season.

Rotherham away always has the potential to be a difficult encounter and the Millers’ recent victory over Norwich City at home was much needed. There is a grit about North End this season though which should serve them well at the New York Stadium, before West Brom travel to Deepdale. Despite off the field issues, Carlos Corberan’s men are not to be underestimated given the individuals at his disposal.

Preston should be boosted by the returns of Ben Whiteman, Robbie Brady and potentially Emil Riis this month - while deadline day signings Liam Millar and Milutin Osmajic boost Lowe’s attacking options too. There is injury concern over Will Keane and more will be learned on that front later this week, but September looks like a real opportunity for PNE to keep the positivity going.

You can never predict too much or look ahead too far in the Championship, but October sees Preston travel to Leicester, Ipswich and Hull, while hosting Millwall and Southampton. Heading into that run of fixtures on the back of a strong September would take the Lilywhites’ confidence to another level.