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Not long now: The teams march out, the original Lilywhites in white shirts, navy shorts and white and navy striped socks. Their visitors from North London wear – checks notes – “a dazzling look in Dark Turquoise with accents and trim in black and white”. Kick-off is just a minute away.
Giantkiller watch: With just two games to go in today’s FA Cup schedule, we’ve yet to witness a major upset despite the valiant attempts of Sunderland and Grimsby Town, who drew with Fulham and Luton Town respectively. Will we see one at Deepdale? The less than enthusiastic response of Spurs Twitter to their manager’s team selection suggersts there might be one on the cards.
Those teams: Ryan Lowe makes two changes to the side that beat Birmingham in their most recent Championship outing. Ched Evans will partner Tom Cannon up front, replacing the Cup-tied Liam Delap. Ben Woodburn starts on the bench and is replaced in midfield by his near namesake Ben Whiteman.
Antonio Conte makes seven changes to the Spurs side that beat Fulham on Monday night, giving Fraser Forster a start in goal and bringing in an entire new defence. Interestingly, trhere’s still no place in the side, or even matchday squad for Djed Spence, a player the Italian appears to have had foisted upon him during the summer and clearly doesn’t rate. Harry Kane starts alongside Arnaut Danjuma on a reasonably strong looking Spurs bench.
Preston v Tottenham Hotspur line-ups
Preston North End: Woodman; Storey, Lindsay, Hughes; Browne, McCann, Ledson, Whiteman, Brady; Cannon, Evans
Subs: Cornell, Bauer, Diaby, Cunningham, Potts, Fernandez, Johnson, Woodburn, Cross-Adair
Tottenham Hotspur: Forster; Tanganga, Sanchez, Lenglet; Doherty, Bissouma, Bentancur, Sessegnon; Kulusevski, Son, Perisic
Subs: Austin, Dier, Davies, Royal, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Bryan, Danjuma, Kane
Today’s match officials
Referee:Peter Bankes
Assistant referees: Edward Smart and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth official: John Busby
NB: There is no VAR system in operation at Deepdale this evening and if the match ends all square after 90 minutes it will go to a replay.
Early team news
Preston loanees Liam Delap and Troy Parrott are ineligible for today’s match, the former Cup-tied after representing Stoke City in the third round of the competition while on a previous loan spell from Manchester City. On loan from Spurs, a completely ridiculous rule that ought to be scrapped means Parrott is not allowed to play against his parent club.
Elsewhere in the Preston ranks, there are several other absentees. Danish striker Emil Riis, and midfielders Ben Whiteman and Brad Potts are sidelined with injury, while Irish striker Sean Maguire signed for Coventry City a couple of days ago after almost six years at Deepdale.
WIth just one goal required and eager to break Jimmy Greaves’ Tottenham scoring record as quickly as possible, Harry Kane has told Antonio Conte he wants to play today despite suffering from illness during the week. In on loan from Villarreal having been stolen from under the noses of Everton, Arnaut Danjuma is also likely to be in Tottenham’s matchday squad, while Richarlison could make his first start for Spurs since the World Cup.
FA Cup fourth round: Preston v Tottenham Hotspur
Deepdale is the venue for this evening’s match between Championship side Preston and Tottenham Hotspur, their visitors from the top flight. Eleventh in the table but just two points off the play-off places, it remains to be seen from his team selection just how seriously Preston’s 44-year-old manager Ryan Lowe will be taking a competition his club last won in 1938.
While Antonio Conte is also like to ring the changes with his team still in the Champions League chasing a top four spot in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur’s fans are desperate for their side to end a famously long trophy drought that stretches back to 2008. It will not go down well with the Spurs fanbase if their side is dumped out of the Cup by a team from a divsion below. Kick-off in Lancashire is at 6pm (GMT) buty stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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