'Norwich's to lose' - Leeds United and Southampton figure throws down gauntlet to Preston North End

EFL pundit David Prutton believes that it is Norwich City's play-off spot 'to lose' ahead of their crunch meeting with Preston North End this weekend.

North End kept themselves in play-off contention on Tuesday night as they beat Huddersfield Town after falling behind. Will Keane levelled from the spot and then Milutin Osmajic scored one of the quickest hat-tricks in Preston history to make for a resounding win.

Ryan Lowe's side are eighth and face a Norwich side who are in the position where they want to be. The Canaries surrendered a two-goal lead to Sheffield Wednesday in midweek and are five points ahead of PNE. A win on the weekend and against Southampton in their re-arranged fixture could put Preston in the top six.

Saturday’s game is huge in the grand scheme of things and this could be looked at as a must win for Preston if they want to be involved in the race for the Premier League. Prutton, who played for the likes of Leeds United, Southampton and Nottingham Forest in his career has delivered his verdict on the match.

In his Championship predictions podcast with Sky Sports, he said: "With Preston snapping at their heels, given what you saw with Norwich 2-0 up very early doors against Sheffield Wednesday where it could have been three, four or five and you see Smith pop up to get a vital point for Wednesday.

"It throws Norwich into the game against Preston - who went 1-0 down to Huddersfield but Osmajic stood up and got his hat-trick and showed the way to do it. I do think it's Norwich City's sixth spot to lose. Preston, it's less pressure on them, absolutely, because they are playing at home. But they are there to take the points off Norwich aren't they, more than anything else?”

Prutton finished off by suggesting that the match would finish in a 2-2 draw. Preston don't have the best record against Norwich and have won just once in their last five meetings. Their last victory against them came in the away match last season, when they came from behind to win 3-2. In the history of this particular fixture, Norwich won 4-0 last season and are aiming to secure back-to-back away league wins - in consecutive seasons - for the first time.