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Neil Cross
Preston North End welcome Liverpool to Deepdale on Sunday afternoon
Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom is relishing the challenge of facing Liverpool this weekend.
The Reds make the trip over to Deepdale for a 15:00 kick-off at Deepdale, with it North End’s second run out of pre-season. Heckingbottom’s side edged Chorley 1-0 away from home on Wednesday night, after an academy side had been beaten 2-1 at Bamber Bridge the night prior.
It’s now a significant step up in test, with the Premier League champions pulling up in PR1. The day will have plenty of emotion around it, with tribute plans for Diogo Jota and Andre Silva having been confirmedon Friday. As far as the match is concerned, PNE’s boss is keen to see how his players fare against elite opposition.
"They all are (fitness tests), but it'll be a totally different challenge,” said Heckingbottom. “All we have been doing is getting us back into passing the ball and getting on the ball. We are going to have to defend a hell of a lot better, and I would've thought there will be longer spells without the ball against Liverpool.
“Again, it'll be the exact opposite (to Chorley) so you prepare for that and then want to get the most out of it. We've got a couple of days now to prepare for how Liverpool will approach the game, and the problems they will pose us. It's an opportunity to practice that because we are going to come up against some good sides again this season."
Reflecting on pre-season so far, he added: “It’s been good. I'm sat up in the top making notes about what clips I want to show them, based on what we want going forward in the first game of the season and beyond. We’ll start making one or two notes which will hopefully help the players settle into their roles that much quicker.”
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