Reliable journalist Alan Nixon has suggested that Alex Neil is in need of a positive result to help relieve the pressure on his shoulders and prevent any real pressure building on his future.

Preston headed into the campaign aiming to bounce back from a disappointing end to last season which saw the Lilywhites manage to win just two of their final 12 matches to drop away from the play-off picture. Neil’s side, though, have struggled to find consistent form at the start of this season and have suffered seven defeats in their opening 13 league games.

The Lilywhites suffered a 3-0 defeat at home to local rivals Blackburn Rovers in midweek which means they have now lost six of their opening seven home matches in the Championship this season. That is preventing them from putting any sort of consistent run together and leading to some question marks over Neil.

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The Sun Journalist Alan Nixon took to Twitter in response to a question from a supporter over Neil’s situation, and he suggested that the Lilywhites’ boss will need a result from his players soon to avoid any pressure building over his potential long-term future at Deepdale after a frustrating start to the campaign.

The verdict

Neil does not look like he is any immediate danger of losing his job at Deepdale, with Preston usually patient over their managers and keen to afford the time to turn things around when difficult periods hit during the season. The former Norwich City manager has shown he can get much more of his squad and needs to get some more consistency.

North End’s home form is a major concern and they looked to have potentially turned a corner when they beat Sheffield Wednesday to end a run of five successive defeats at Deepdale this season, but the performance and result against Blackburn was arguably their worst of the campaign so far. They will need a swift response to that setback.

Preston will need to continue to pick up good results away from home to avoid a difficult situation turning into a very troubling one. Neil will be hoping he can get more performances and results out of his side that we saw in the first two-thirds of last campaign and if he can do that then he should be able to turn things around.