Sky Sports Monday Night Football is brought to you this week from Deepdale as Preston North End host Oldham Athletic in the absence of Premier League football. If you're missing televised football at the moment due to the international break then I suggest you watch what promises to be a great game from Sky Bet League One. North End, unbeaten in the league, sit 1 point and 3 places above the Latics who have scored 9 goals in 3 away games so far this season. Preston won't be worried about that though as they have turned Deepdale into somewhat of a Fortress recently- conceding just 3 in their last 10 official games there (with 2 of those coming in their last home game against MK Dons).
Preston North End
Recent Form; Walsall (A) 0-3 W, Burnley (A) 2-0 L, Coventry (A) 4-4 D, MK Dons (H) 2-2 D, Rotherham (A) 0-0 D, Blackpool (H) 1-0 W, Wolves (H) 0-0 D. - 2 wins, 4 draws, 1 loss. Preston have made a steady start to Simon Grayson's first full season in charge at the club and after exiting the League Cup in the second Round to fellow Lancashire club Burnley, they sit eleventh in League One after an unbeaten start to the season in which they have drawn four and won one. Probably not the start that most at Deepdale were hoping for after such a strong finish to last season but as Simon Grayson would tell you, it's definitely a platform to build on and after their first win, and an emphatic one at that away at Walsall, of the league season you'd definitely expect the Preston players to be raring to go after an expectedly boring 10 days without a game, due to receiving a bye in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy first round. Preston's big name signing of the summer, Kevin Davies, is yet to make an impact on the scoring charts so Preston fans will be thankful that they've had 6 different goalscorers already this season, and their defence is standing strong- conceding just 8 goals in 7 games this season but are let down by 4 of those coming away at an astounding Coventry side.
Scorers; Joel Byrom, Tom Clarke & Chris Humphrey - 2. Joe Garner, Lee Holmes & Bailey Wright - 1.
Oldham Athletic
Recent Form; Shrewsbury (A) 1-4 W, Tranmere (H) 0-1 L, Port Vale (H) 3-1 W, Peterborough (A) 2-1 L, Walsall (H) 0-1 L, Derby (H) 0-1 L, Stevenage (A) 3-4 W. - 3 wins, 4 losses. Oldham Athletic have made their expected roller coaster start to the season, but probably not in the fashion most will have expected. Tipped by many at the start of the season to be relegation fodder, the Latics have leaned towards the side of winners rather than losers. They have scored 11 in their 3 wins and conceded just 5 in their 4 losses and look set to cause a few upsets along the way. So could Preston be one of them? It's no secret that Latics are better on the road than they are at home, scoring 3 in 4 games at Boundary Park and 9 in 3 away games. Manager Lee Johnson probably couldn't have hoped for a better result coming into this game with a 4-1 victory away at Shrewsbury in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy which has given him a selection headache going into Monday's clash. Latics' big signing of the summer has made a better start to the season than Preston's and has scored 3 already, with all 3 coming within the last 3 games.
Top Scorers; Adam Rooney - 3. Danny Philliskirk & Jose Baxter - 2. James Dayton, Charlie MacDonald, Cristian Montano, Sidney Schmeltz & James Tarkowski - 1.