Preston North End, despite lacking a real clinical striker for the first 21 matches of the season, have found themselves sitting in ninth position as Championship football stops for the FIFA World Cup, which is some achievement in itself.

It was pretty clear that Lilywhites manager Ryan Lowe wasn't given everything that he wanted and talked about when it came to summer recruitment, with PNE's last signing coming at the end of July - there was no deadline day dramas for them on September 1 as there was seemingly no budget left to make a play for a wing-back or a striker.

Lowe's defence has been incredibly solid for the most part, and if they just had another striker who could take chances then who knows where they could be in the table right now.

Emil Riis netted 17 times in the league last season, but after a slow start to the campaign amid transfer interest from Middlesbrough, the Dane has five goals to his name so far, which would average out at around 11 for the whole campaign.

Assisting him have been Troy Parrott, who took two months to net his first league goal before immediately going down with a torn hamstring, and then there is both Sean Maguire and Ched Evans - the former who hasn't scored for a full calendar year and the latter who was in the same boat until his three goals in two matches before the break.

North End had a real goalscoring forward who knew where the back of the net was last season in the form of Cameron Archer, who arrived in the mid-season transfer window and went on to score seven times from 20 appearances.

Lowe used his friendship with Steven Gerrard to land the youngster, and after a successful half-season, there was a hope that the 20-year-old would return to Deepdale.

The enquiry was made but Villa and Gerrard would not budge - Archer would remain in the Midlands for at least the first half of the season to try and force his way into the starting 11.

It wasn't just North End who were keen as well, as reported interest from Burnley and Watford threatened to hurt the Lilywhites fanbase if he were to leave Villa temporarily, but thankfully it never happened.

As of now though, there have been no starts for Archer in the Premier League this season, with six substitute appearances the only outings he has gotten, and Unai Emery has had the briefest of looks at him before the World Cup break.

Per BirminghamLive though, Archer now wants to head out on loan once again in January, and the Championship you would imagine is his likeliest destination.

Back in the summer, North End chief Peter Ridsdale claimed that the club would match any loan offer financially for Archer, but the new contract on a much higher wage he penned in August could scupper that.

However, with the struggles PNE have suffered in-front of goal, coupled with their current league position and proximity to the play-offs, this should be the time when the Hemmings family go all-out and do their utmost to bring Archer back to Deepdale.

Of course there will be clubs who have better finances that are interested, but in Burnley and Watford, they play lone-striker systems and have both Jay Rodriguez and Keinan Davis respectively, so game-time may not be as regular there.

At Deepdale, Archer would be central to Lowe's plans and it is a place where he knows he is loved - it all makes a lot of sense, now it's just up to the hierarchy in PR1 to see if they can fund a deal.