Preston North End will continue to monitor the fitness of Daniel Johnson ahead of the visit of Huddersfield Town on Saturday, although fellow attackers David Nugent and Brad Potts could both return for the match at Deepdale, manager Alex Neil has revealed.

Johnson limped out of his 200th North End appearance at Charlton on Sunday after just 31 minutes of the match following a heavy challenge from Addicks defender Naby Sarr, with his replacement Paul Gallagher scoring the only goal of the game from the spot to briefly put Preston top of the Championship standings.

Having already scored eight goals and provided five assists this season, Preston will be determined to have Johnson back in the side as soon as possible, and it appears as though there is a chance he could feature against the Terriers on Saturday.

[freshpress-poll ]

Speaking about his side's injury situation in his pre-match press conference ahead of that game, Neil told the Lancashire Evening Post: “The guys who started on Sunday didn’t do a lot in the first part of the week.

“They'll get out on the grass today, then have tomorrow off and we'll be back in on Friday to get ourselves going.

“We will have a look at DJ as the week goes on to see where we are with him."

Discussing the situation around Potts and Nugent, it seems Neil is more confident they will be available to feature on Saturday after missing out on a place in the matchday squad at Charlton, as the Preston boss continued: “The injuries to Pottsy and Nuge were slight ones.

“I would imagine both lads will be in contention for the weekend.”

Preston go into Saturday's game second in the Championship table, two points adrift of league leaders West Brom and unbeaten at home in the league this season.

Huddersfield meanwhile go into the game 18th in the second-tier standings, although they are now unbeaten in their last seven league games, meaning they are unlikely to be an easy challenge for Preston to overcome.

The Verdict

It seems as though Preston will have to tread carefully here.

Johnson has been in outstanding form for North End this season, so you can understand why they would want him back in the fold as soon as possible, particularly against a dangerous side such as Huddersfield.

However, given his performance across the course of the campaign, they will not want to rush him back too quickly and risk losing him longer term due to a more severe knock.

Considering the way they coped without him at Charlton, they may well be confident of competing without him against the Terriers, particularly given they have the likes of Nugent and Potts to turn to once more.