Preston North End vs Doncaster Rovers Predictions

Having been unable to get their heads in front of late, Preston will hoping very much  that this match against League One opponents allows them to do better, though it’s not as if they’re facing one of the weaker sides in the third division. Doncaster are right in the thick of the top-six race, so the hosts aren’t likely to have everything their own way on Sunday afternoon.

Considering that they created far more than their opponents and were generally better in all areas, Preston were very unlucky to lose against Rotherham last time out, though they haven’t been able to put their failures down to luck all that often of late. Sunday’s hosts have often failed to create anywhere near enough in the final third, while they’ve been outperformed in terms of expected goals in three of their last five.

From a performance point of view, the Lilywhites have done much better at home than they have done on the road, so they may be feeling upbeat ahead of this match. They’ve won just one of their last four at Deepdale, while they’ve conceded in each of their last seven in front of a home crowd, but they’ve scored in each of those seven, while they’re yet to a draw a blank on home soil this season. Add in the fact that they’re averaging 1.61 expected goals for and it’s fair to say that Preston can get competitive from an offensive point of view on their own patch.

Getting competitive in the final third is not something that Grant McCann’s Doncaster have struggled with during the current campaign. Donny have scored more goals than all but one team in League One this season, while they currently rank as the third best team in terms of expected goals, so it’s not at all difficult to see them causing a Preston side that struggles for clean sheets at home a few problems on Sunday afternoon.

Even on their travels, where they’ve averaged 1.53 expected goals for, Doncaster have almost always threatened. They scored three goals in their most recent away match, while they’ve failed to score in just two of their last seven on the road.

Given the numbers of above, ‘Both Teams to Score’ makes plenty of appeal. Preston ought to have more than enough about them to get on the score-sheet, as has always been the case at Deepdale this season, though they’ve found it very hard to keep clean sheets, while the visitors are no slouches in the final third. With the hosts averaging 1.61 expected goals for at home and with Doncaster averaging 1.53 expected goals on the road, it’s easy to feel that ‘Both Teams to Score’ is a decent bet at the prices.