Bristol City vs Preston predictions: Robins heading towards the play-offs
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- Bristol City are pushing for their highest league finish in 17 years
- Preston’s decade-long stay in the Championship is in danger of ending
- Recommended bet: Bristol City to win and both teams to score
Bristol City and Preston will meet in a crunch Championship clash on the final day of the regular season, with both sides needing the points for very different reasons.
Play-off-chasing Bristol City sit fifth in the standings and can guarantee their place in the top six with a victory, although anything less, and they will be relying on results from elsewhere to extend their season beyond the conclusion of Saturday's action.
Survival is the aim for Preston, who have sleepwalked into relegation trouble following a seven-match winless run that includes four successive defeats, leaving them just a point and two places above the drop zone.
Team news
The hosts will once again have to make do without injured trio Luke McNally (knee) Cameron Pring (hamstring) and Mark Sykes (quad), but midfielder Joe Williams did return to the bench for Monday's defeat at Leeds after a recent quad issue and could play some part.
After back-to-back defeats, City head coach Liam Manning may look to freshen up his line up, with the likes of Anis Mehmeti and Scott Twine pushing for starts.
Preston have a whole host of injury concerns, with Alistair McCann (leg), Brad Potts (hamstring), Freddie Woodman (ankle), Jack Whatmough (calf), Mads Frokjær-Jensen, Sam Greenwood and Will Keane (all muscle) all expected to remain sidelined.
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The stats
Bristol City have lost back-to-back matches at Luton and Leeds, but both of those defeats have come on the road, while at home they are unbeaten in seven, winning six of those games.
The Robins are certainly hard to beat at home, losing just three of their 22 league matches at Ashton Gate this season — only promoted duo Leeds and Burnley have lost fewer times on their own patch.
A victory on Saturday would secure the Robins their highest league finish since the 2007-08 season.
Preston have picked up only two points from the last 21 available, while it is just one win in 14 Championship games for Paul Heckingbottom's team since their 1-0 success at Norwich on February 11.
That poor run means North End's decade-long stay in the second tier is in danger of being ended this weekend.
City were 3-1 winners when these two sides met at Deepdale in November. Yu Hirakawa, Nahki Wells and Max Bird were their scorers that day, while Sam Greenwood netted for Preston.
Prediction
While back-to-back road defeats have meant this could be a nervous end to the regular season for Bristol City, their impressive home form should be enough to see them to victory against an out-of-form and relegation-threatened Preston team.
Preston's form has fallen off a cliff during the final third of the season and having lost four matches on the bounce heading into this trip, their survival hopes may well hinge on favours from elsewhere.
City should win this game, but they may not be able to keep a clean-sheet given they have conceded in each of their last 10 matches and have shipped seven across their recent losses at Luton and Leeds
Preston, meanwhile, have scored in six successive matches, so they can contribute to an entertaining game, but it looks like they will be the ones facing a nervous wait come the final whistle, while their hosts should be able to celebrate finishing in the top six.
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