Preston North End will be looking to get their push for Championship promotion back on track on Saturday afternoon, when they host QPR at Deepdale.

Back-to-back 2-0 defeats away to fellow promotion contenders West Brom and Fulham in their past two games have heavily damaged Preston's hopes of automatic promotion this season, and they are now just two points clear of seventh-placed Bristol City in the battle for a play-off spot.

QPR, meanwhile, go into this game 14th in the Championship table, nine points of the play-off places following their 2-2 draw with Birmingham last time out.

A brace from Eberechi Eze secured a 2-0 win for Rangers in the reverse fixture earlier this season, so Preston ought to be under no illusions as to the challenge they are facing this weekend.

With that in mind, we've taken a look at the starting lineup Preston manager Alex Neil could name to give his side the best possible chance of picking up all three points against QPR at Deepdale.

4-2-3-1 appears to have been the formation of choice for Preston this season, so we expect it will be that system they use again on Saturday.

Having started every league game so far this season, it would be something of a surprise if Declan Rudd does not start in goal for Preston again on Saturday afternoon.

In front of Rudd, we imagine a defence of Darnell Fisher, Patrick Bauer, Ben Davies and Andrew Hughes - which appears to be the back four of choice for Neil this season - will again lineup as such this weekend.

One change Preston could make is in the midfield area. With Neil confirming earlier this week that Ben Pearson is set to miss the next month of the season with a hamstring injury, the return from illness of Paul Gallagher could be a particularly timely one, as he could now come into the side to partner Alan Browne in the holding role.

That would then allow top scorer this season Daniel Johnson, to move back into a more attacking midfield role - after taking over that defensive midfield position last time out at Fulham - to increase North End's goalscoring threat, with Brad Potts the man who could drop out to make room for those alterations.

Elsewhere upfront, Neil could be tempted to drop Sean Maguire and David Nugent following their recent struggles in front of goal, with January signing Scott Sinclair and centre forward Jayden Stockley - who has been a handful for defences this season despite a lack of goals - two who could potentially be brought back into the side as a result.