Preston North End will look to end a run of four successive defeats when they travel to Fulham on Tuesday with manager Alex Neil openly admitted his side are in a difficult spell.
A run of four straight defeats have seen the Lilywhites slip from second to seventh in the Championship table and face another tough test when they host third placed Fulham on Tuesday evening.
North End lost their first home game last time out at Deepdale and will be looking to turn their form around when the Cottagers arrive in Lancashire on Tuesday evening.
Speaking to the Lancashire Evening Post, Neil said: "This is a difficult spell for us, we know that, I did say a few times before this spell that we’d had to change and tinker the side quite a lot this season."
"There has been a lot of tinkering in there, sometimes it has worked and sometimes it hasn’t like at the moment," Neil continued.
The Preston boss revealed that there are some issues he is struggling to get right at the moment and injuries are not helping his current predicament.
"We have missed two of our technical midfielders who give us that extra link in the middle, our ball-playing central defender Ben Davies has been missing which means we haven’t been able to build," he told the Lancashire Evening Post.
Discussing the impact of certain players missing, Neil said: "Ben gives us pace and he covers the flank down his side too which he is great at, Darnell Fisher hasn’t been there so we’ve had to flip full-backs and we’ve only just been able to move Joe Rafferty back to the right after he’s been playing at left-back."
North End could move back up into the play-off places with a victory if results also go their way, before hosting Luton Town on Saturday.
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The Verdict
There is no coincidence that North End's form has tailed off as their injury crisis has worsened, but have however faced tough trips to Hull City and QPR as well as West Bromwich Albion at home.
Tuesday night will be another tough test as Fulham head to Deepdale looking for a third successive away win, and the pressure mounting on the Lilywhites to end their difficult run.
A draw may be a satisfying result for Neil as he continues to ponder on his side's balance, whereas another defeat could set potential alarm bells ringing.